Pursuit of Eden
by Origm2012
Summary: This is a story based in the Fairy Tail universe. However, it will deal more with the universes outside of Earthland. This is an SYOC story.
1. Rewriting History

**Author's Note:**

Welcome everyone. I know the wait for this was quite long. But it's finally here. So for all the readers who were awaiting this and for any new readers, I'm glad we can finally begin Pursuit of Eden.

As many of you know, I have taken to dating each section of a chapter. This heading has never been as important as it is for this story. Please be aware of what this heading says or you might end up lost.

Although this is a Fairy Tail story. It will have little resemblance to Fairy Tail or OC guild stories in general. The reason for this is simply because of the lore and content that I was lucky to have many of you all give me. This in conjunction with the lore I developed made the final product much different from both Brightholt, Knights of Fiore and The Most Free.

So I hope you all enjoy it.

* * *

 **February 3, XX20, 11:00 A.M, Out of Time**

"I've waited so long," said a tall grey haired man.

His hair was kept short with 3 small spikes just above his forehead. The tall master wore a velvet maroon suit, a matching tie, black drees shoes and a pair of similarly colored gloves. His skin was fair and though he was around 50 years of age, his body hadn't suffered any physical deterioration as he was still quite muscular.

His name was Halford Jackson and he'd spent most of his life struggling and persevering all for a moment that was soon to come. He sat in his office thinking over his life and there was a small bit of anxiety and excitement that took hold of him.

"20 years," he said. "20 years in this wasteland and we've still come so far. This life hasn't done me any favors, but. I don't want from it either. All that we've worked for is soon to be underway and should they all complete their tasks, no. Even if they don't complete their tasks, this dream will still be recognized."

There was a knock at the door and when Halford called for them to come in, a young man and woman entered the office.

"Master Hal, they have arrived," said the woman.

"Are you ready father?" the added the young man.

Hal looked over his son and the young woman.

His son, Yochanon, had come to be one of Hal's most trusted members. He dwarfed even the tall Hal Jackson at over 6 and a half feet tall. His slick black hair was combed back and his eyes possessed a tint of red. He was muscular which was evident by his lack of a shirt, something he often noted as a hindrance. He wore black jeans with armor pieces on them, combat boots which were tied together by pieces of cloth. A belt which stored his weapons of choice and a skull mask hung from his neck. He was 28.

The woman was a few years younger. Her eyes were a soft yellow and her blond hair was tied back in a bun. Her name was Annabelle Babbage. She was a whole foot shorter than Yochanon. While he was muscular, she appeared more lanky than anything else. She wore a double breasted corduroy jacket which was bronze with green accents, buttoned and oddly form fitting. She had khakis, a brown scarf, and black rimmed glasses.

But to call them members would be an odd statement. They were what remained of Hal's Grim Riders, the elite group which operated within Hal's organization.

"Yes, I'm ready," said Hal.

He walked out in front of them and stood on the balcony which the only staircase up his brock tower opened into.

Hal Jackson looked up at the sky, smirked and said, "It's a beautiful day isn't it."

His comment earned a chuckle from Annabelle, but Yochanon rolled his eyes in slight annoyance over hearing the same tasteless joke every day.

"It isn't real father," said Yochanon. "You had this sky made. It never changes."

"It changes sometimes," said Master Hal. "Sometimes, it's cloudy."

Knowing he'd get no further, Yochanon gestured for his father to continue on.

They were heading to the front deck. This organization operated out of a structure designed by Hal himself. It was large and circular. While Hal always treated as a ship more than anything else, it functioned more like a metropolis of incongruent parts. There was the part of the organization where the core members resided, a large black bricked castle situated towards the center of the metropolis. Within the castle were several towers, each dedicated to something else. One housed the Grim Riders, or what remained of them. Another housed Hal Jackson and another housed a man who had been influential in the process of getting this far.

The Metropolis itself was bustling with activity. Merchants, traders, businessman, bakers, and everything in between comprised the metropolis' personnel.

On their way to the deck, Hal Jackson and company passed several other members of their organization. Foot soldiers, but people who were loyal to their cause. They passed other citizens and exchanged pleasantries. But their appearance just before they reached the front deck prompted the appearance of Hal Jackson's partner.

This man's once green hair was now a silvery gray color and though it was parted down the middle, it still retained a few rebellious spikes here and there. He showed no signs of his age. In both his body and mind he remained strong and well-built. But unbeknownst to most people, he was easily the oldest person within the metropolis. His silvery beard coated his square jaw lightly and he was dressed in a green tunic. Both his arms and legs were protected by metallic gauntlets and greaves. Draped over his shoulders was dark red cape that fell to the ground.

"Nice to see you Tidus," said Hal. "I take it everything is in order."

"Yes, my friend," said Tidus. "They're all awaiting your arrival and our explanation."

"I see. Then let's begin the final stretch," said Master Hal with a genuine smile.

Hal Jackson stepped out onto the front deck of the metropolis and stared into a crowd of people.

There were murmurs from within the crowd and then eventually every quieted down as they realized someone may finally answer their questions.

"Good day everyone," said Hal Jackon. "I am Hal Jackson and the master of this metropolis. Many of you are wondering a lot of things. Why you're here. Where you are. Who we are. Or any number of things. I'll try my best to quell any confusion."

He stepped forward into the crowd and walked among them as he continued his explanation.

"You all are in a place called Out of Time," said Hal Jackon. "The world is not as small as many of you thought. Beyond your country, oceans and skies, are entire universes. They exist alongside one another. Each one different from the other in some form or fashion. Tallying them would be impossible even if you had forever. So where you are right now is outside this fabric of space and time."

His words caused confusion and fear to take root once more and everyone began yelling for answers.

This dragged on for a few minutes and eventually Yochanon hollered for everyone to quiet down and await an explanation.

Hal nodded to his son for the assist and continued. "I have lived here for 20 years," said Hal Jackson. "This place was built with our blood, sweat and tears as a haven for those like us. People like us, who life has given no favors. At every turn something has occurred to deny us our full potential. For 20 years, I have toiled with a dream in mind. Do you all have dreams? Not some physical thing you want? But something that you could never accomplish in your whole life?"

This time the massive group was silent. They seemed locked in thought at their own lives of misfortune or bad luck. They slowly nodded in agreement. That, what Hal Jackson said was true. That for many of them, a fresh start wouldn't be so bad.

"My dream!" shouted Hal Jackson. "Is Eden! I've been in Out of Time for 20 years working towards entering this place. I have no reason to share with you my dream, but I will. I will because it's the right thing to do. Since the beginning of time, Out of Time, has existed. It is a place where the accidents of time go. Time is always trying to correct itself. Things like Déjà vu are the result of the timeline correcting someone slipping through. Someone or something has probably slipped through and as such a version of them exists out of time. To anyone watching, it would appear as if you simply disappeared for a second and then reappeared, while in actuality you were pulled from or slipped through time. It happens from time to time or one can force themselves here."

He could see the confusion on their faces. It was expected. There was a lot to take in and only few people would ever really believe what he said. And he hadn't even gotten to the truly crazy part.

"But within this realm is a place called Eden," he continued. "A place where anyone who sets foot inside obtains immortality. However, entering there is not as simple as walking through the door. There are qualifications. Eden itself deems your worthiness and the residents there vote. If you pass, you become a guardian of time. Someone who exists outside of time forever."

There were murmur of disbelief which wouldn't have normally bothered Hal Jackson, but as this moment was pivotal to the plan he slowly became infuriated.

"I was accepted!" he yelled. "I, but not my family. They were deemed insufficient by a group of pretentious immortals."

Before he could continue, Tidus stepped down beside him. He placed a reassuring hand on Hal's shoulder and said, "My name is Tidus E. I've been alive a very long time. You may be skeptical of what this man speaks, but I am the proof. I am from Eden. I don't remember how long ago, but I was betrayed and cast out. Then this man took me in and as fate would have it, he shared my desire. To break into Eden. You wanted to know why you all were brought here. The answer is to help us achieve that goal and in doing so, we'll help you achieve the wildest notions your heart contains."

He scanned the group and could see the hesitation and mix of emotions on their faces.

"I know," said Tidus. "I know every frustration. Every disappointment. Every Achievement. I've seen all your lives with this decision and without it. I've lived so unfathomably long. Coasting through different universes. I've lived every second of every day of your lives alongside each of you. That's how we knew who to bring this offer to. For some of you, life gets easier. For some it gets harder. Some get famous and some wither away and die. So if you want to know whether or not this offer is a good idea or worth it, I won't be telling you."

He and Hal walked back to the front of the group and Hal said, "If what we said interests you, then don't move. If you wish to return to your homes, then step forward and all of this will be no more than a dream. One hour is all that I can give you."

The hour slowly came to a close and several of the people brought there had decided it wasn't worth the risk. But a select few remained. A group of people who had decided that they and their loved ones needed a chance at happiness they might not experience any other way.

"Wonderful!" shouted Master Hal. "From this moment on, there is no returning from where you came. This is your last chance."

When no one moved still he stepped down and looked around at the group.

"We are family now," said Hal as he motioned for Tidus to show them the true sky. "No secrets. We look out for one another and no one person is more important than the next. There's no need to rush anything. We have all the time in the world."

Tidus waved his hands and the sky above them slowly dissipated, revealing that it had simply been the result of an illusion placed on a dome surrounding the metropolis.

The dome slowly became transparent and all of the people could see beyond it.

Beyond this dome was a vast, violent warping of space and time all around them.

"This, is the flow of time," Hal announced. "Each of you has been brought here from your own time and universe. Tidus will be giving you the tasks most suited to your capabilities. There are a number of things that must be completed. Some of you will face challenges akin to conquering countries, saving whole nations, developing medicines, the possibilities are endless."

"Why?" asked a voice from the crowd.

The owner of the voice stepped forward. His name was Colt Draiman. He was truly curious. To say that the situation had gone from real to fantasy was putting it lightly and he truly wanted to know why and how they were doing.

His shoulder length, messy black hair match his fitted black that were pants tucked into knee-high black boots. The boots had three metal buckles towards the tops of each of them. He wore a white v-neck t-shirt with a fitted, dark blue leather jacket over it. He also had on a pair of fingerless, black leather gloves.

"The reasoning is simple," said Hal turning to the man. "To break into Eden should be impossible. But spread across time and space exist people and artifacts that separately are powerless, but together will open a door there."

Then as if he read Colt's mind he continued, "Travel to each of these times, was at one time, impossible. But we've managed to anchor our metropolis to several times already using these gates."

He gestured for Yochanon and Annabelle to open the gate nearest to the group.

There was an unlocking sound and then from the middle of the front deck's floor, rose a circular door way. Its border was made of a red and white steel-like material, but the door itself appeared as if was glass.

The mages could see themselves in it.

"Beyond that gate lies a whole other universe," said Master Hal. "Welcome to Red Mirror."

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Special thanks to all of my readers.**

 **How's it going?**

The lore for this story came from a combination of lore created by myself and several other readers. However, Red Mirror, the name of the organization/guild, was originally created by The Impostor for a story of mine that was canceled called Knights of Fiore.

I rewrote this prologue several times. Sometimes introducing all of the Knights who were returning from Knights of Fiore and sometimes without any of them introduced immediately. I eventually settled for a brief introduction of one of the more light hearted ones. But all 6 of the 9 nights who were allowed to return will be making an appearance next chapter.

Speaking of next chapter. This is an SYOC story. The group of mages who chose to stay will amount to no more than 20 members. 6 spots have already been filled. So when the next 14 are accepted, I will close submissions for a time. They will open up throughout arcs though, so keep your eyes peeled for it, if you're interested.

This chapter may have been short and possess more monologues than I'm used to having, but it touched on a lot of science concepts that are really important to me, so I found myself ranting through the writing quite a bit. I swear it won't be like that as we get into the story.

 **Origm2012 News**

If you read all three stories or, you've already seen this. My apologies. The tentative date for a release may be on my profile, but all notifications will be handled through my forums. I think it's a great way to let you all know when something happens or when they'll be a delay. Or if there's a poll that needs to be voted on as soon as possible, I'll let you all know through the forum. So if you're interested in any of that, I'd recommend following the forum. If you're worried about a lot of notifications, I'll lock the update one so that only I can post in it and I promise to not flood your inbox or if that is impossible I hope anybody following it will be respectful of those who want to be updated, but don't want random messages coming into their inboxes. So feel free to visit the forum for news and then message me with questions. I'm usually quick to respond. The discussion one will remain open for everyone as I truly want to see more interaction there.

Thanks again for reading.


	2. Where We'll Call Home 1

**February 3, XX20, 12:00 P.M, Out of Time**

Annabelle had quickly been dismissed with three other mages. Master Hal had decided to give each mage a chance to settle in before sending them on their missions. To make the transition easier, he'd had Tidus account for all the things that might hold them back and as such all of the rooms were made to each mage's tastes. So Annabelle and the three men behind her were currently walking through the giant black castle that stood in the middle of the metropolis.

She quietly led a trio of mages to their respective rooms on the second floor of the castle. In her hand she held a piece of paper and on it were the names of the 3 people who she was assigned to work with. It always amazed her how fast Tidus worked, but for him to have already assigned every mage to a team was astounding. She tried to think of when he could have accomplished the task when a realization hit her and she inwardly deadpanned.

With Tidus being able to drift through time he probably knew each and every mage here better than they knew themselves.

"Alright then," she sighed when she reached the door to the first room. She quickly turned on her heel to face the mages behind her. Annabelle read off the first name on the list and quickly remembered who its owner was when her eyes landed on the messy haired mage who'd spoken up earlier.

"Colt Draiman! Ikariel Crownleaf! Mikael Kuehn!" she half announced. Her eyes locking with each man to ensure she'd pronounced it correctly and when they nodded affirmatively and stepped forward, she motioned for them to enter the room.

"What? You're not coming in," Colt said as a smirk took root on his face.

Her hand quickly found the side of his face and with a slight push he was thrown into the room.

"I don't have time to waste Mr. Draiman," said Annabelle as she rolled her eyes.

She turned her attention to the other two men.

One of them was a rather young man. His name was Ikariel.

He seemed to be taking in everything around him, but other than that he'd remained emotionless for the entirety of their walk.

His straight lime green hair hid his right eye and fell to his shoulders. The young man effortlessly appeared feminine. In the right moment, he could easily be mistaken for a girl. His bright silver eyes were round and always forced an innate aloofness. They were surrounded by long, lime colored lashes and thin brows; the portion of his face that could be seen appeared mostly round. He had a round, slightly upturned nose and thin lips.

Ikariel had ivory colored skin and wore a white top that hung loosely from his shoulders. The long sleeves were wide and covered his hands. At the cuffs rested an orange mosaic pattern. His pants and boots were a similar shade of dark brown with the pants falling to the middle of his calves and fitting loosely around his legs while the boots had flat, white soles and an orange mosaic pattern on the outer sides of them. On his waist rested an orange and beige painted gourd filled with water.

He took Annabelle's cue to walk inside and nodded at her once more before entering the room. Behind him walked Mikael Kuehn. This mage had a bright and cheerful look on his face and it sort of unnerved Annabelle how happy he seemed.

The mage stood just over 6 feet tall and had light blue hair that went several inches past his shoulders. His skin was a fair complexion. He shared her yellowish eye color and wore an unzipped white overcoat with black lining and a hawk mark on its back. Beneath that was a dark red shirt. His pants were black and his shoes were white. He wore a pair of rectangular glasses and a necklace with a heptagram on it. On his left side were two sheathes which hid blades that had to be jagged and close to a foot long from the look of them.

"Are you okay Mr. Kuehn?" she asked before he could pass her and enter the room.

"There's no need for formalities like that," he said cheerfully as he extended his hand for her own. "Just call me Mikael. From the way we were all split up, I think it's fairly obvious we'll be working together. So let's be friends."

Annabelle breathed deeply and not wanting to slight her new team mate, she accepted the gesture. But as she did so, she closed her eyes and inwardly cursed Tidus. "Damn you Tidus. You gave me these three on purpose!"

The 4 mages entered the room and found it to be entirely different than it appeared on the outside. The hallway that the room was in had been fairly simple in design, with nothing but black bricks and a window here and there to provide a view outside. There had been a staircase leading to higher floors of the castle and leading back down to ground floor. However, inside the room the three mages would share was nothing that resembled the outside.

There was a large, light blue painted common room. It had been completely renovated and came with a conjoined kitchen and living room. There was a singular couch in the living room, with a small glass table for eating. On either side of the common room were 4 doors. One for Colt, one for Mikael and one for Ikariel.

"So you'll be staying with us then?" asked Colt as his sly grin resurfaced and he pointed to the fourth door.

Annabelle clenched her teeth and fought back frustration before answering the man, "No. That is a balcony exit for the three of you."

Colt's eyes widened and before he could even check his own room he ran out onto the balcony. The large semicircular balcony overlooked the eastern side of the metropolis and provided a great view of the artificial sky which could be seen mimicking a cloudy sky now.

"Wow!" he exclaimed as he turned to the other two men who had exited onto the balcony with him. "That's some view, huh guys?"

Tucked away on the balcony was an easel for painting and Mikael looked to it and then back to Annabelle several times. Silently asking the question that had popped into his mind.

"Yes, Mr. Kuehn," said Annabelle. "The easel is for you. This entire room was put together in consideration of the things you all love."

"Really?" asked Ikariel in a soft, curious voice; stunning everyone as the young man had finally spoken.

He turned and back into the common room before heading to the room that had been designated as his own. He opened the door and the emotionless young man felt his heart skip a beat.

His wide eyes scanned the rather large lime green room and took in the rather simplistic design on the wooden bed, the hardwood dresser and large bay window. But what had truly caught his attention were the book shelves lining the room.

"Yes Mr. Crownleaf," said Annabelle. "It had been noted that you had a fondness for books on magic and other things. So the room was stocked with texts lost long ago and some not written yet."

He turned to the blonde woman and seemed to be in agonizing pain as he tried to find the words he was looking for.

Colt quickly walked over to the young man and planted a hand on his back.

"Just spit it out man," he said playfully before sounding out his next few words. "Th-ank you."

Ikariel looked to the man with a genuine smile and then turned to Annabelle and slowly duplicated Colt's words.

"Th-ank you," he said sincerely mimicking Colt.

Annabelle shook her head at Colt before turning to find Mikael exiting his room happily. In his hands was a paint set, which seemed to possess and cycle through many different pallets. Behind him, Colt and Annabelle could see fresh easels laying around as well as a lot of light that had to be shining in through a large window as well.

"Okay!" shouted Cole like a child opening presents. "Me next."

He opened the room and found it littered with lacrima players, devices that could play music. The room's dark blue walls themselves seemed to be insulated as a means of sound proofing and one wall was a stereo system which controlled the speakers posted throughout the room.

He was silent for a long time which prompted Annabelle to interrupt him. "Mr. Draiman? Are you alright?"

Colt turned to face her with tears in her eyes. "It's beautiful isn't it," he asked before leaping into the room to fiddle with the stereo system and to see what music had been given to him.

Annabelle half laughed and coughed in surprise when she saw Colt bouncing around the room like a child.

She quickly looked over the other three members of her team and found them to be engrossed in their own rooms.

She turned to exit the room, but before she left quickly said, "The rest of your personal effects will be brought to your room soon. We'll be preparing for our mission briefing soon, so be prepared and well rested. The town is down below if you need something you don't see here and if you need me. I'll be in the Grim Rider's Tower."

"That sounds so ominous," said Mikael.

"It's really not as dangerous as it sounds," Annabelle reassured the man. She thought for a moment on an equivalent before the right answer came to her. "Many of you come from times where guilds are thriving, yes?"

"That's right," said Mikael. "At one time, I was a part of one."

"Okay. The Grim Riders are what you might call the 'S-class' mages of Red Mirror," she said.

"Then why not call them S-Class mages?" asked Colt as he joined the conversation.

A vein quickly tensed for Annabelle at the sound of his question. It was a really good question and one she had often asked herself. But somehow, him asking annoyed her to no end.

"What does it matter?" she spit out.

Then she quickly caught herself, shook off the frustration and resumed. "The title doesn't matter," she continued. "What matters is what's implied."

"What's that?" asked Colt.

She smiled a devious smile now and stepped out of the room as she spoke, "There's no one stronger than us."

* * *

 **February 3, XX20, 12:15 P.M, Out of Time**

Tidus stared at the mages before him on the front deck of the metropolis. He was vividly excited and wore a look on his face that was a mix on enthusiastic and determined. The immortal had handed a slip of paper with names on it to Annabelle, one to Yochanon, he kept one for himself and gave the rest to master Hal. After Annabelle and Yochanon had called forth the names on their lists, they each left with a group of mages.

Being well acquainted with all of the mages he decided to indulge himself in his guilty pleasure of talking to people who he knew everything about.

"Madison Liddel! Harlow Saturn! Origami Wisemen! Acivarruesaz!" boomed Tidus' voice.

At the sound of their names, a large group of people moved forward.

At the forefront of this group was the mage who had been the loudest since her arrival.

She bounced up to Tidus with an outstretched hand and said, "The name's Acivarruesaz, but you can call me Aci!"

Tidus smirked at the young woman before him. She was full of energy and even in this weird situation she was still as talkative as he remembered her.

The young woman had her long silver hair in a waist length braid, with the loose strands covering her eyes slightly. Tidus noted that Aci's skin was rather pale despite having come from a sunny place and her to further the differences between her and her people. She was much shorter than them, standing just under 5 and a half feet tall, with sky blue eyes and a skinnier build. She wore a long black scarf, black cargo pants, a white sleeveless cardigan that reached her knees. As the cardigan had no buttons, a simple black t-shirt could be seen underneath it. She never wore shoes and merely covered her feet in a wrapping of bandages.

Tidus shook the young woman's hand making sure to mimic her child-like excitement when doing so before turning to the rest.

He scanned the rest of the group and could tell that one of the women before him was quickly trying to decipher another. The woman in question had moved to the front, but behind her stood several people.

"No need to worry so much Ms. Wisemen," said Tidus as he pointed at another woman. "Ms. Saturn's entourage is comprised of no more than her family."

"Her family?" questioned the woman who had been referred to as Ms. Wisemen. "And we can skip the formalities," she added coolly. "My name is Origami."

Origami was a skinny, fair skinned woman who stood only a few inches less than 6 feet tall. She had brown hair that went down to the middle of her back, but was tied in a ponytail. She too had loose strands which formed makeshift bangs. But her most notable feature would be her golden yellow eyes. She wore a long black wrap dress with bell-shaped sleeves and a similarly colored sash and boots.

Tidus nodded in acknowledgement.

In the many years that Titan had watched Origami, she had always been a calculative woman. It had served its purpose and had also served as a hindrance many times. Nevertheless it was one of her many admirable traits.

Titan walked over to the short woman known as Ms. Saturn. The young woman was oddly cute, but she mostly resembled a child in size and stature while she was already 15. She had light mocha colored skin and bright orange colored eyes. She had wild midnight blue hair that split into two twin tails. Her right eye held a permanent silver star shape over its pupil.

She had on a knee length navy blue sundress with white lace patterns decorating the whole thing with random yellow stitches. She also has black sandals on along with a big lavender bow in her hair.

Tidus noted the wrinkling of her button nose and thin lips that were usually curved in a smile as Ms. Saturn nervously turned to her family.

"No need to be so nervous," said Tidus as he eyed the young woman and her family. "I'd much prefer to see that happy smile you wear from time to time Harlow. You're exactly where you belong, so cheer up."

The fourth mage to be called up had remained quiet for some time, but something in Tidus' words had gotten under her skin and she had to speak up.

"That's enough!" she shouted. "I'll admit, that all of this is beyond interesting. But how are we supposed to be comfortable around someone who's been watching us our whole lives."

This woman's name was Maddison Liddel. She had lived a life mixed with the duplicity of freedom and restraint and knowing what he knew, Tidus was sure that she was merely just perturbed by the idea of someone watching every moment of her life.

He eyed the green eyed woman once more, taking a moment to comprise exactly the right words to weasel his way out of a confrontation. Her short black hair was held in an equally short ponytail and every muscle in her body was well toned from years of training. Her figure was easily discernible by the formfitting brown jacket she wore with a stylized lighter brown pattern running across it and a broach comprised of 3 interconnected rings with a 5-pointed star in the center ring. She had on light brown jeans accented with gold, a choker with a white jewel as its pendant and rimless glasses with a white frame.

"Ms. Madison," began Tidus. "I assure you I had the utmost respect for privacy throughout your lives. But it was necessary that I observe all I could to ensure only you could complete the task ahead."

Madison grunted in slight annoyance at the notion she was likely being talked down, but the idea that there was a job that only she could do assuaged any reservations she had.

"Fine," she said as she looked over the mages around her. "I assume this is the team I'll be working with. So let's get started."

A cheerful grin shot across Tidus' face. "I'm glad you're so enthusiastic," he said. "But we've been instructed by Master Hal to let everyone settle in before briefing teams on their assignments."

Tidus gestured for the large group of people to walk towards the center of the metropolis and they slowly obliged.

From the front deck it took about 15 minutes to reach the center of the metropolis, but the group currently stood in front of the black castle.

"It's kinda ominous," said Origami.

"And eerie," added Aci.

"Nonsense girls!" boomed Tidus. "It just takes some getting used to and you should never judge a book by its cover. But before we go inside to the dorms, I'll be showing Ms. Saturn and her family where they will be staying."

"We aren't staying with Harlow?" asked the man who was presumably Harlow's father.

His name was Joe Saturn and he had tan skin and a shiny, bald head with dark brown hair patches along the back of his head and a bushy mustache. He wore a white and red checkered flannel under black sweater vest, grey slacks, and black dress shoes. Around his neck is a dark red bow tie.

Behind him, stood his wife and a son a little older than Harlow.

"Not exactly," said Tidus. "Ms. Harlow certainly has a room in the dorms up above, but you all do not."

"So where will my family be staying?" asked Harlow sheepishly as nervousness set in once more.

Tidus walked to the right of the castle where 3 houses made of black brick sat. Each was at least 2 stories tall, with a chimney, a wrap around porch on the bottom floor and beautiful bay windows that let light in all around them.

Tidus gestured for the Saturns to enter the house nearest to the group and as they did so they heard Tidus speak behind them.

"Hal thought it best that family not be placed in dorms, but instead in an actual house. So while Ms. Harlow has a dorms in the castle, she is of course, free to stay with her family."

Harlow's mother could be heard 'oohing' and 'ahhing' as she walked through the house.

Harlow's father seemed unable to take in everything that had happened to them in the last day or so. Life had been hard for them. Life had been unfair in many ways and now the very thing which had endangered Harlow now became a blessing for her family.

Mr. Saturn hugged his daughter tightly before walking into the house. The family could be heard barreling the house in excitement as they explored the place they would be calling home.

"I'm gonna see the dorm area Mr. Tidus," said Harlow. "Then if it's alright I'll come back down here."

"My dear," said Tidus. "When you're here, you're free to do whatever you please."

Madison's felt a slight unhinging feeling at Tidus' words, but decided to bury at the sight she had witnessed and what everyone had said.

"Okay then. Can we go already!?" shouted Aci.

"Oh yes of course," laughed Tidus as he led the group through the large archway that was the castle's entrance.

The main lobby to the castle was spacious and the architecture seemed to harken back to a more gothic time period in design as there were large pointed arches, pillars looming to the ceiling and to the left and right of the lobby were two circular stair cases which spiraled upwards, convened in the middle of the room above them and continued as a single staircase.

"This,"

"Is,"

"Really,"

"Beautiful,"

Each word said by a different member of the team forced them to eye each other in suspicion, before laughing nervously.

"Alright then!" shouted Tidus. "To the dorms."

Tidus and the girls passed by an open doorway to hear Annabelle showing a room to another group of mages. Further down the long hall way, Tidus brought the four mages to a room and opened the door to reveal their dormitory.

The kitchen was once more fully renovated and while it was simple in design, it had been fitted with black granite as the basis for counters, stove tops and other fixtures. This common room had 5 doors, one of course being a balcony and another being a room dedicated to each woman.

"You'll find that each room has its own bathroom," said Tidus before each woman moved for their rooms. "Hal knows the importance of personal space for new roommates," he added with a slight chuckle.

Madison was the first to examine her and like the other mages in the castle, she too was shocked to see a room that looked as if it had been designed for her.

Her room exuded a more classical feel to it. Something which was attributed to the time on Earth she had come from. It has a full-size bed with white sheets and an extremely pronounced headboard adjacent to the door, a gossamer wooden bedside table with a shelf installed that held several books to its right, with a lamp and a glass on the top. Her room had a large opening of free space in front of the bed which had been occupied by 4 chairs. On a nearby table was a pitcher of water and an ashtray. Between the chairs, there was a phonograph and some jazz and ragtime records. To the side of the bed not occupied by the table, there was an older style radio On the far wall, between the back two chairs, there's a projector screen, projector, and some lacrima reels. A few extra doors in the room were explained away with closet space and the personal bathroom.

"Th-This is too much," said Madison as she was taken aback by the assortment of things she figured were long gone.

"Nonsense my dear," teased Tidus as he peaked in the room. "These are just some of the things you love to make you feel a bit more at home."

His words sunk in and Madison finally realized just how far apart each of the mages really were. If Tidus was telling the truth, then he could have likely tapped mages from across time periods so far apart it would be impossible to connect.

"I've been alive a long time," said Tidus in a knowing voice as he eyed Madsison. "Time doesn't play as much a factor in common interests as you'd think. Just give something a try."

Behind him the once shy Harlow was bouncing around the apartment in excitement. The mere prospect of having one big sleepover had put her over the moon and with her family secure for once, she quickly exuded a sense of relief. She was tearing through the kitchen and its stock of food when Madison walked over to her and in an attempt to 'try', she said, "Can you cook Ms. Harlow?"

The young woman's face lit up. "A little, but you can just call me Harlow!" she said in excitement.

"Okay," said Madison cheerfully as she reached for a cast iron pot. "I'll show you one of my favorite dishes."

Tidus smiled at the two girls before turning to Origami. "Aren't you going to check your room?" he asked.

"I doubt you know me as well as you think you do," she spit out.

"You never know," he said as he pointed to Aci.

She had quickly examined her room and afterwards ran out onto the porch to find that the half circle got plenty of light and already had a growing garden.

She ran back inside and essentially yelled out, "It's got a garden! But I can't find any of the seeds I like!"

"I believe the seeds from your home country as well as others are in a draw in your room," said Tidus.

The white haired woman's eyes went wide and then she shot off into her room and back out onto the balcony once more.

Origami wrinkled her nose and sighed in defeat. She walked over to her room and slowly opened the door.

She was pleasantly surprised to find the simple warm yellow room. It was semicircular in design itself, and because of that, the middle portion of the semi-circle was cut out for a huge bay window which opened out onto a small veranda. She had a large queen sized bed and a dresser for clothes.

The young woman stepped out onto the veranda and breathed in the fresh air. As she did so a crack of thunder could be heard and the makeshift sky above them began pouring out rain.

"It's not so bad is it?" asked Tidus.

"Tch," started Origami. "It could be worse."

* * *

 **February 3, XX20, 12:30 P.M, Out of Time**

Hal had moved the rest of the mages closer to the castle and was patiently awaiting Annabelle, Yochanon and Tidus to direct the rest of the mages. The large group stood under a tent just between the castle grounds and the first ring of shop which surrounded it. But beyond that, he'd been secretly and angrily awaiting the arrival of his last Grim Rider, Jael Heathcliffe.

Then as if on cue, the sandy blond woman stalked out of the castle and towards the master.

"You're late," grunted Master Hal as he glared at the red eyed woman.

Jael stood just under 5 and a half feet tall. The rain had quickly soaked her white blouse even though it was under a gray sweater vest. She had on a blue tie, black jeans, white canvas shoes and white gloves.

Currently her most noticeable feature was the uninterested look she wore.

"Yeah, yeah," she said quickly waving him off. "I couldn't get much sleep last night."

The master looked down at her and as she said that, his anger was quickly dissipated. "Fine," he grumbled as he handed her a white piece of paper. "Just introduce yourself quickly and take up your team."

"You got it," said Jael before turning to the mages. "Listen up everybody. My name is Jael Heathcliffe and I'm the last Grim Rider."

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Special thanks to all of my readers.**

Maddison Liddel – The Impostor

Jael Heathcliffe – The Impostor

Colt Draiman – MyDearWatson

Ikariel Crownleaf – Raiyane

Mikael Kuehn – PoisonBanana

Harlow Saturn & Family – Sakura-Fiction

Origami Wisemen – klbubblepop786

Acivarruesaz ('Aci' for short) – Qyresh

Thanks for the wonderful OCs and I hope I portrayed them correctly. If not, please feel free to tell me.

 **How's it going?**

How's everybody doing? Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter. I had initially planned to show each group with a bit of the mission they would be heading out on. But then I had a few readers who never got around to completing their forms and that left me with a problem I had with another story a while back. I didn't want to go down that road again, so I decided to switch it up and have each of the teams be introduced to the metropolis instead. Then I'll have them head out on their missions. I'm really excited for that and it'll be a huge change of pace for the mages once that happens.

So the next few chapters will have a similar set up and once we're through this section, which won't be more than 2 or 3 more chapters, we'll be onto more engaging stuff.

 **Origm2012 News**

Thanks for reading.


	3. Where We'll Call Home 2

**Author's Note:**

You're not dreaming. I uploaded two days in a row. Be sure to read both chapters so that you don't miss anything.

* * *

 **February 3, XX20, 12:30 P.M, Out of Time**

Hassnet Kramer was one of the many mages to have been called to Out of Time. The entire idea seemed outrageous at first, but there was no denying that he was here and this was happening. When Master Hal had given everyone the option to leave, he had been one of the first to gather what little belongings he had on him and prepare to leave. But then he found himself unable to do so. The idea that by working with these people, who were clearly on a path he didn't know even existed, could bring him to his dream had planted him to the ground.

And so, the young blue eyed mage currently had his brow furrowed in a bit of frustration with himself. He had let his desires win him over so easily in quite possible the most suspicious situation of his life. But beyond that, his team seemed unbearable. He had been shown his room just minutes before he began his walk through the town and the notion of living alongside those people made him skeptical of his decision.

They were a constant mix of irritable, intense and impatient. While he was more free and relaxed by the things. Something that was evident by his unruly black hair. His skin was a light brown tone and while he was short and a tad scrawny, there was an undeniable layer of muscle. He wore a tan vest which had numerous pockets over a black t-shirt and matching black cargo pants. His brown boots seemed to be designed for the most treacherous terrains and he had a pair of goggles resting on his head.

Hassnet's room had been plastered with all kinds of navigational equipment plotting out sea routes along the Earth and of other planets. Some even mapped the stars itself and to quench his thirst for constantly being surrounded by the stars, a device had been implanted in the walls which turned his room into any constellation he wanted or even allowed him to view space as if it was around him.

It was nice and he couldn't complain, but those 3 had already managed to make the light-hearted man grumpy in a matter of minutes. Then as if his thoughts summoned them, two of his team mates began walking beside him into town.

"I wanted to apologize for my behavior upstairs Mr. Kramer," said the young lay of the pair.

Hassnet stared at the gorgeous woman before him. He hadn't expected her to apologize to him. Up in the castle she had quickly become irritated with how long the walk had taken and when she finally snapped, Yochanon was none too pleased which eventually dragged the young man on Hassnet's right into the conversation. When Hassnet refused to get involved and simply moved on to examine his room, the pair of mages beside him snapped at him as well.

"She's right," said the tall man beside Hassnet. "We just met and the situation sort of grew to be more than what it should have been."

Stunned by the quick turn of events, he smiled cheerfully at the mages and said, "Don't worry about it. I'm glad it turned around quickly."

The woman who had apologized first was called Arya Seiko. The woman was just a few years older than Hassnet at 20 and stood a bit taller than 5 and a half feet. Though she was clearly a spit fire kind of person, she had more mellow and cool features. Her dark blue eyes clashed with waist length emerald green hair and she wore a pair of tight black leather pants which hugged her hourglass figure and was tucked into thin black leather boots that ended about mid-calf. She had on a maroon V-neck T-shirt with the sleeves cut off which covered a modest bust and a green bandana tied loosely around her neck. Her left ear had a bar piercing, while her right had studs all along it and there was a tiny sapphire stud in her nose.

But her most peculiar features were the tattoos that the beautiful woman sported. On her right arm was a sleeve tattoo of tentacles which wrapped it's way around and down to about her elbow and her left had a murder of crows circling and descending until they turned into a pack of wolves.

"So what has become of our team captain?" said Hassnet playfully to which both mages rolled their eyes in frustration.

"He's on his way to guide more mages to their rooms," said the man beside Hassnet. "Hopefully he stays with them."

The man to Hassnet's right was also quite young, however he easily towered over the other mages at just over 6 feet. His black hair contained streaks of white here and there, but his blue eyes still managed to stand out just fine; their one peculiarity being the heterochromic triangles which had taken root on them. His skin was a dark olive color. A turquoise headband kept some of the hair in check. Along with his headband, he wore a black leather jacket which was unzipped over a turquoise tank top with several Kanji on the bottom left side. He had somewhat baggy black skinny jeans and a pair of leather sandals.

Hassnet sighed at the man's words. Truthfully, Yochanon was far more uptight than Hassnet thought he needed to be, but he was likely to be working with the trio and it was best they get along sooner rather than later.

"I think we'll get along well Mr. Maksim," said Hassnet with a bright hopeful smile.

"It's fine. You can just call me Alva," said the blue eyed mage. "Anyhow, I hope you're right."

Hassnet's own eyes now held a curious look in them as he turned from Arya to Alva several times. Before chuckling he said, "We all have blue eyes."

All three mages stopped for a moment and Arya and Alva watched the goofy smile on Hassnet's face.

"What a peculiar thing to notice," said Arya with a slight smile of her own.

"Really," began Hassnet as he slowly counted out on his fingers. "I think it's a lot of fun to draw similarities between things. Both of your names start and end with the same vowel. We both have shaggy black hair, Alva. And we both don't care for things that make us uncomfortable, Arya, albeit we handle it a bit differently."

"Okay, okay," chuckled Alva hoping to avoid igniting Arya. "We get it."

In an attempt to change the conversation, he turned to Arya and said, "So, did you like your room?"

Arya's seemed to be biting her tongue a bit as she listened to the question and eyed Hassnet. She had just apologized and didn't quite feel like answering someone who felt it necessary to compare methods of problem solving.

"Yes," she said as she shook off her frustration. "It was the main reason I came and apologized. I figured if the room is that nice, then the people can't be so bad."

Hassnet being completely unaware of what he had almost caused had a great smile upon his face.

"It was painted with a sort of sea based design," continued Arya. "There were ships sailing around the walls and the window let in a lot of light too. But what I was really excited to see, was the balcony."

"What's on the balcony?" asked Hassnet.

"Our balcony has a small bridge which leads to another balcony that's somehow suspended in midair and on it are several boards for magical target practice," said Arya.

"Wow! They really went all out with the rooms," said Alva. "Mine came stocked with all types of kinds of things from where I'm from. It was almost like being home, but what I'm glad for is the kitchen."

"You cook?" asked Arya and Hassnet in unison.

"Yes I do," said. "I'll gladly cook for you guys some time. The kitchen's full of herbs and spices from back home and some I don't even know too."

The group had been walking for some time as they spoke and as they walked through the first ring of stores around the castle, they passed all types of shops, a restaurant, repair shops and blacksmith shops.

Every now and then, they'd pass members of Red Mirror who had lived in the castle before their arrival. They all had cheerful grins and regardless of the exhaustion which was evident on the faces, they seemed happy.

This did wonders for the group of mages, as each of them had been secretly combating the idea that this was somehow a trick or a dream. But to hear people praise Red Mirror, was something.

From these members they learned many crucial details about Red Mirror and the metropolis.

The metropolis had been built by Hal, his family and Tidus many years ago. It was pieced together by other objects that had slipped through time. The people and businesses that operated here, were all managed by people who had slipped through time and saved by Red Mirror. With no means for regular people to escape Out of Time they were stuck there.

Master Hal had given everyone the chance to earn their keep and for those who didn't have the drive to open a business or find work. He allowed them to work as members of the organization itself. These members wore regular clothes, but were also given a standard outfit consisting of, a simple black pants, with a dark red cloak. On the back of the cloak was a silver oval resembling a red mirror.

Beyond the fact that the metropolis had its own currency for purchasing goods, a dedicated farmland and a complex skydome, there was the hierarchy.

Master Hal sat in charge of everyone, with Tidus just beneath him. Beneath them were the Grim Riders, consisting of Jael, Yochanon and Annabelle and beneath them were the core members. Everyone else was a common citizen just trying to survive in a place that would baffle most people.

"It's so much to take in," said Arya.

"Yeah, how are we even supposed to eat if we don't have any money," added Alva.

Beside the other two mages, a loud rumbling sound roared.

"You make a good point," chuckled Hassnet as he pointed to his own stomach.

* * *

 **February 3, XX20, 12:30 P.M, Out of Time**

Laughter echoed through the rain after Jael's declaration.

Before she could call forth the names of her team a goliath sized man stepped forward. He was just shy of 7 feet tall with dark red pointy hair. His hair stood on end, but was mostly kept there by the white headband wrapped around his forehead as a few long strands hung forwards. His skin was a peach tone.

His long, muscular limbs were riddled with scars from years of fighting. An unzipped blue jacket with a grey fur collar was draped over his shoulders and shirtless body revealing his muscular physique. He had two black belts crossed over his waist and a pair of red pants with tears and stitches. His boots matched the black belt he wore.

But his most intriguing qualities were currently the sinister smile he wore on his face and the Zanbato-style broadsword with jagged edges which even when hung on his back was nearly as tall as him.

He drew the blade and brought it to a stop just above Jael's shoulder.

"I can feel it," he said in a deep voice. "You're gonna call my name off that shitty piece of paper and I'm gonna follow you like some sort of lap dog, right?"

Jael's eyes remained a mixture of bored and unamused. She didn't really care who this guy was, she just wanted to be done for the day so she could relax and sleep.

Her red eyes met his green as she stared up at the giant and she held out the piece of paper for him to read for himself.

"Read your own damn name," she said with no hint of anything to her voice.

His sinister smile flared up once more and he raised the blade an inch, turned it so the jagged edge faced her neck and swung horizontally.

The blade crashed into its target, cracking the ground as it connected, but Jael stood unmoved.

"Arrgh," growled Master Hal. "Don't make a mess Jael."

In an instant she had hopped up to eye level with the giant.

His eyes had been preoccupied with trying to recall how she had stopped his attack, before he realized that her hand was enclosing around his face.

He felt each one of her finger land on his head and with a tight squeeze and a bit of force, the giant was hurled into the ground and sent skidding on his back through several of the rings that encircled the castle.

'I said don't make a mess," grumbled Master Hal.

"I missed," said Jael. "I meant to send him off the metropolis altogether."

In her free hand she still had the paper with names on it.

"Ravindra Lorelei, Quetzal Voxxis and Zanza Musame," she said half bored.

Two people stepped forward and with amused expressions on their faces.

The group in the rain was silent for a moment, before they all sighed realizing the man who had been tossed away to be the final member of the team.

"Well, hopefully he wakes up soon," said Jael. "Or not, if he plans on being annoying again. Your names?"

Quetzal Voxxis stepped forward first. "I share your notion on the importance of sleep," he yawned. "But I'd prefer if you didn't call me by my full name."

Quetzal was a young man of 21. His long brown unkempt hair was pushed back to have the appearance of a mullet. Both of his eyes were colored differently. The left being blue and the right brown. A scar ran through his left eyebrow, lining up evenly with the iris. His skin was lightly tanned and he stood just over 6 feet tall. Well defined muscles showed through his He wears a simple white V-neck. He had jeans on and brown colored combat boots. He wore a long black leather jacket whose length made it seem more like a cloak. He wore a black ring with a blue gem in the center on his left middle finger and tribal tattoos covered his left pectoral, shoulder and upper left arm while an X-shaped scar engraved itself on his right pectoral, with the bottom of the scar ending halfway down his rib cage.

"Ugh, fine," huffed Jael. "What should I call you?"

"Where I'm from, I'm known as Asylum. I've grown accustomed to the name," said the name.

"Okaaay," said Jael with a slight roll of her eyes before turning to the older woman. "And you?"

"Yes, I'd prefer to be called Raven instead of Ravindra," said the woman.

The woman was gorgeous, despite being middle aged. She stood just over five and half feet tall. She had an air of maturity that coincided with her modest womanly endowments. Her pale complexion clashed with her sharp, hazel colored eyes and reddish-brown hair that was tied up into a wavy pony tail.

Raven's bangs framed her face and as she presented herself to Jael she was currently attempting to blow away a rebellious strand that had fallen in front of her oval shaped glasses. Her white, button-up shirt's long-sleeves were rolled halfway up her forearms and her shirt was untucked. She wore black dress pants and white stockings underneath them that were only visible since her choice of footwear consisted of black heels with two black straps crossing over her feet in an X-shaped design. She also wore a small, white leather watch on her right wrist and a silver chain necklace that had a ruby pendant.

"Everybody wants a nickname today?" asked Jael as she shook her head in confusion. "Fine, I'll call you red," she added as she pointed at the man who had been thrown.

He still wore his sinister smile, but now it had a mix of satisfaction to it. "The name's Zanza," he said.

"And now it's red," she added ending the discussion.

He smirked at the small woman before him before adding and pointing to the destruction behind him. "If you can do that much, it doesn't really matter what you call me."

With a quick raise of her eyebrows, she spun on her heel and led them into the castle.

They bounded up the stairs and down a long hall way before stopping at a door. The door itself was quickly noted as odder than other doors, but before anyone could question it, Jael pointed at Zanza and said, "The rooms have been fitted for you guys or something."

With a nod of understanding, Jael let the 3 mages.

Zanza was the first to find his room as the door itself appeared much large than the other doors in the room.

He walked in and saw the great big bed against the far wall. A weapon rack for his sword as well as others that seemed to be from different time periods. The room had a dresser for clothes, but it seemed that was put there as more of an afterthought when Zanza quickly tipped it over and used it as a bench.

He smiled a cheesy grin as he looked around the room in appreciation.

On the other side of the common, Raven and Asylum were examining their rooms.

Raven found that her room her room was abundantly spacious. There were a myriad of materials that would only ever be understood by her and whoever had placed them there for her since she used them for tinkering with her magic. The great bay window let in a lot of light and with the high ceilings being an after effect of Zanza as a roommate she was granted even more space to work with.

"Is the room good?" sighed Jael. "Or should I report there's a problem with it?"

"The room is lovely," said Raven.

Asylum had quickly settled into his room and tore through the two mini fridges. There was a large bed, a desk, and a bookshelf filled with books about various historic and educational topics.

He had head straight for the fridges as he quickly realized just how in depth the planning for these rooms was. He was sure in one was a various assortments of liquor and the other would be filled with peaches.

He opened both and sucked in a deep breath of alcohol and peaches before relaxing into a comfortable smile.

"Mine's good too!" he shouted after hearing Jael ask Raven's opinion.

"I personally had a hand in the balcony," said Jael as she called for the trio of mages. "After learning about who would be living here, I thought it'd be good to have this added to the room.

She stepped out onto the large semicircular balcony and nothing happened. Then she stepped back into the common room and hit a switch on the wall. Instantly the doorway to the balcony was darkened into blackness.

She stepped into it and disappeared. When they heard her voice call for them, they were even more shocked. But upon walking through the door way they found an abundantly large dome shaped area devoid of anything, but white tiles and a blue dome ceiling.

"This training space was designed especially for you three," she said with a hint of pride.

"Am I dreaming?" asked Asylum in earnest. This earned a chuckle from Raven and upon seeing the gleeful expression on Zanza's face Jael nodded her head as in acknowledgement and exited the room.

"Will we be working together soon?" asked Raven before Jael could go.

"Yes," sighed Jael after she thought over the question a few times. "You, me that guy and that guy will be assigned a mission in the next few days."

"I look forward to it," Raven said with a soft smile gracing her face.

* * *

 **February 3, XX20, 12:30 P.M, Out of Time**

Out in the rain, Master Hal stood under a tent with the remaining mages. He kept looking them over and then at the three pieces of paper in his hand. There were only three more teams to be put together and then they'd move onto the next phase of their plan.

In the next few moments, Yochanon, Annabelle and Tidus arrived at the tent.

"Took you all long enough," said Master Hal.

"My team seems to have a problem walking," spit out Yochanon.

"They've been walking fine," shot back Master Hal as he pointed at the mages finally completing their walk. "Maybe you're a hothead."

Before Yochanon could add anything back, snickering from Tidus broke his thoughts.

"You put the teams together old man," said Yochanon. "Why'd you give me them?"

"I simply chose the best I could, given the circumstances," said Tidus innocently.

"I've got a bone to pick with you too," said Annabelle finally eyeing the man.

"Oh," said Tidus as he materialized an orb in his hand. "Why is that?"

The orb quickly showed Annabelle enjoying a brief moment with her team as she showed them the rooms.

'Enough of that! You old pervert!" Shouted Annabelle as she knocked him away. "He's always watching people."

"True," said Master Hal. "But you've wasted enough time, get back to work."

 **Author's Note:**

 **Special thanks to all of my readers.**

Hassnet Kramer - Imageination

Alva Maksim - Shouta Izukai

Arya Seiko - BrownSugarBae

Ravindra "Raven" Lorelei - Dreadburner94

Zanza Musame - BarrettM107

Quetzal Voxxis (goes by Asylum) - BrownSugarBae

Thanks for the wonderful OCs and I hope I portrayed them correctly. If not, please feel free to tell me.

 **How's it going?**

How's everybody doing? Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter. I was recently inspired by another writer after they completed an insane amount of chapters in a short period of time. So that's what led to this quick chapter. Apologies if it's short.

So the next few chapters will have a similar set up and once we're through this section, which won't be more than 2 or 3 more chapters, we'll be onto more engaging stuff.

 **Origm2012 News**

Thanks for reading.


	4. Where We'll Call Home 3

**Author's Note:**

I had initially planned to do 4 chapters in 4 days. However, my internet went out and I only got the other 2 out. I worked on this and a Brightholt chapter for those who read that. Hopefully you all enjoy it.

Oh and I usually message back quickly or at the very least within the day. So if you message me a question and I don't answer, it's likely that I've missed it, Fanfiction messed up the e-mail again, or my internet is down. So if that's the case feel free to message me again. I sincerely hate missing messages as I don't want to offend anyone even by accident.

Enjoy.

* * *

 **February 3, XX20, 12:30 P.M, Out of Time**

"Why doesn't Jael have to do a second one?" asked Yochanon.

Before Master Hal could answer, Annabelle rolled her eyes and said, "You know exactly why. The more time she has with people, the more irritable she gets."

"Ugh," he grunted out.

"Okay then," chuckled Tidus. "I'll go first then."

"Would C.C. Creed, Lucca de Venice and Xenvyla Hoki step forward?"

"Yes!" shouted a man from within the remaining group of 9. "Come on guys let's go."

He shuffled to the front and in just beneath him stood two children.

"I'm C.C. Creed and these are my younger sibling, Annalyse and Gingo," he announced as he pointed to the kids.

C.C. Creed was a skinny, mousy man who stood just under five and half feet tall. He was fair skinned with warm brown eyes and curly blonde hair that he kept swept back.

His metal prosthetics were noticed immediately from the way he hopped to the front excitedly. They were made of a sort of tarnished gold metal. As his yawn faded, a mischievous grin spread across his face. Despite the obvious desire to do something mischievous he was dressed like a confused gentleman. He had on black loafers as well and on his head rested a black fedora with a single white stripe.

"These are my younger siblings," he said as he cheerfully nudged them forward.

"Hi, I'm Annalyse," said the girl.

She was 5 feet tall and could have been no more than 12. She seemed full of energy, but had enough tact to rein it in, in front of strangers. She had brown eyes, fair skin and an infestation of freckles. Her black hair was terribly curly and had been lazily tied back in two puffy twin tails. She had a slight gap between her two front teeth. She wore a hoodie with a skirt and leggings.

The boy named Gingo had taken to hiding behind his sister. He was clearly the younger of the two and his height did him no favors either. He stood a few inches above 4 feet and had a head of absurdly curly golden yellow hair that fell over his chocolate brown eyes. He was so innocent as he hid behind his sister that it seemed as if he had a permanent case of puppy dog eyes He wore a pair of loose blue overalls and a pair of welding goggles.

"Ahh," said Tidus as he reached out for the boy. "There's nothing to be afraid of here. You're family now."

His puppy dog eyes widened a bit and C.C. and Annalyse both cracked a smile of joy at those words.

"He's adorable," said a woman who had also walked forward at the sound of her name.

Tidus smiled brightly at the two remaining members of the team. On his left stood Lucca de Venice and to his right was the woman who currently couldn't stop herself from trying to get a glimpse of the puppy dog eyes hiding behind Annalyse, Xenvyla Hoki.

"I can be more adorable," said C.C. as he flashed a cheesy grin.

" _I know someone who this idiot would get along with well,"_ thought Annabelle as a vein ticked in annoyance.

"I'm surprised," said Tidus. "I thought it would take some time for you to open to everyone Xenvyla.

A flush of embarrassment shot across the face of Caramel-toned woman. She quickly recomposed herself and stood patiently.

Xenvyla was around 5'7" tall. She had a lean body which displayed muscular toning quite well and an average sized bust and a lovely curvature to her hip and thighs. But all of this was even more evident from her choice of apparel. She was donned in nothing, but grey and black. Her black boots fed into a pair of grey pants that was held together by netting around her hips. Her mid-section was exposed, but covering her bosom was a grey and black chest piece which clothed her neck as well. Her shoulders were bare, but her upper arms were covered in netting which eventually culminated in black gloves. Her heart shaped face was covered by a black mask which ended under small button-like nose. Her rounded eyes that were hazel in color and her canines were quite big, causing them to often peek out over her bottom lip. Her wild hair was a peach color and fell to her lower back with the exception of two buns right behind her large pointed ears which sat, off-centered, atop her head. Behind her lay a fluffy tail about the length of her arm.

Beside her was a predominately all white fennec with the exception of a cream patch of fur on her forehead, paws and underbelly named Michiko. She was exceptionally small.

"There's no reason to be so uptight all of sudden," said C.C. "Just relax and we'll all get along."

"That's it!" shouted Annabelle as buried a fist atop C.C's head and drove him into the ground.

"The mean old lady hit C.C," cried Gingo.

"Why'd you do that!" shouted Annalyse as she checked on her brother.

"Old! shouted Annabelle, however this only garnered more tears.

"No no no no. Shhh, shh, quiet," she half yelled and half whispered before admitting defeat. She hung her head and said, "I'm sorry."

Lucca de Venice had been silent for the entire transaction, but even he couldn't help but sigh in frustration. He had an air about him that seethed weariness. He was rather pale, thin and seemed severely malnourished, with his body lacking muscle mass and fat. His straight black hair was long as it reached his upper thighs. His blue eyes were almond shaped and something which made him appear even more gaunt was his tall stature at around 6'2". He was dressed in grey torn pants and a long sleeve black shirt that had holes and tears in them.

After calming the children down, Tidus brought them and the three mages over to the second black house that sat beside the castle. Tidus explained once more about giving the children and family a proper place to live in and after C.C. managed to assure the siblings that he'd be back soon, he was brought up to dorm floor of the castle to see his and the other's rooms.

C.C. was immediately taken aback by his room. While he was glad to have the option of his own home with his siblings, seeing a room such as this before him was exciting. His doorway in the common room opened into a hallway which eventually led to his room. His room doubled as an entrance to a workshop that came stocked with scrap parts of all kinds for tinkering. However, he noted that there was another doorway entering the room.

Xenvyla was quickly pleased with her room as it seemed exceptionally large. It had a private shower, a large bay window and the light blue room had a cot for Michiko.

But before she could get accustomed to it, Tidus had gleefully pushed her out onto the balcony for her to see the view. It was designed as more of a large spot for naps. The railing and floor had been fitted with a cushiony substance which molded to the shape of one's body, making it perfect for sleep out on the balcony.

Lucca's room was quite large as well and came with the same benefits of a private bedroom and space for clothes, but what the man was secretly ecstatic over was the large Large bed which faced the window.

"It's quite a change from what you're used it, isn't it?" asked Tidus.

The mage nodded his head in appreciation as he quickly drifted asleep.

* * *

 **February 3, XX20, 12:45 P.M, Out of Time**

Annabelle stood in a light cream common while the three mages she was currently with looked through their rooms.

The first thing she had noted when they walked in was the separation between the female and male portions of the room. This room had been built differently on the off chance that not everyone was as comfortable living alongside one another. So the small circular common room split off in three directions, the balcony, the two women's rooms and the man's rooms.

Before each mage could rush off to their rooms, Annabelle showed them this balcony's version of a practice room. The balcony opened out into a shooting range, but the targets were magical puppets which consistently kept participants on their toes.

At the sight of this one mage's eyes lit up. Her name was Celia Orne and she was 23. She had long, flowing blonde hair that fell lightly to the small of her back. Her clear blue eyes complimented her companions seemingly soulless blue. Her fair skin accentuated her beauty and blended flawlessly with her blonde hair. She stood only a few inches taller than 5 feet, but maintained a womanly appeal. Her blond hair was held back by floral pink headband. She wore a dark, rose-colored vest over a light tan, short-sleeved shirt, and beige cargo pants, with black army boots.

It seemed to take everything the young mage had to stop herself from going on a shooting spree, but eventually she got a hold of herself and she and the other woman of the team, Nova Ramsey, took off down the hallway towards the section of the room for them.

Nova Ramsey towered over Celia Orne at 5'11". She had broad shoulders and lean build of muscle that mostly resembled an androgynous feline body structure. Her complexion was a dark brown color and her hair was a thick, wiry mauve mane that was about shoulder length and very wild and spiky. Her eyes were an amber shade and her left eyebrow was split with a faint scar that gave it an odd, hooked appearance. Both of her legs and her right arm replaced with high tech prosthetics. However, the arms themselves seem to be easily detachable and replaceable. She wore dark brown coverall which were worn and ragged around the edges. The top portion was tied around her waist as it remained unbuttoned. She had a dark leather utility belt, a white tank top, steel toed boots and protective goggles which hung loosely around her neck. A pair of pale yellow leather gloves was stuffed into her back pocket.

Nova and Celia bounded around the corner to find a small square room with a door on either side. They both entered their rooms at the same time and were quickly pleased.

Celia found a spacious room with the standard bay window and bed. On the far end of the room, was a work bench which was fitted with gun and rifle assortments. From the placement of the bathroom, it was clear that she shared one with Nova. This was quickly verified when she entered the bathroom and at the same time Nova entered from the other side.

Both girls smiled nervously for a second thinking of something to say.

"Looks like we'll be working together," said Nova as she chuckled nervously.

"Yup," said Celia. "I hope we get along."

"Ugh, what's with this awkward atmosphere," said Annabelle as she walked into the room. "Here I was thinking I'd take you guys as a team over those three any day and you two can't even get through 2 sentences. It's like a pick your poison kind of thing."

"That's right," said another voice from within Nova's room. "We should all quickly get along."

All three women quickly entered Nova's room to find C.C. Creed walking about.

"What are you doing here?!" shouted Annabelle.

"Me?" he asked with a devilish grin plastered onto his face. "I'm just doing a bit of exploring, is all."

"Exploring from where?" asked Nova.

He pointed towards a door on the far side of Nova's room. The room itself was a warm orange color which was accented by the light coming in. It had come with a nice sized bed and a closet which could hold a decent sized wardrobe.

But just as C.C. had said, there was door on the far end of the room.

"And you thought it was ok to just walk into someone else's room?" yelled Annabelle as she began pushing him back to the door way.

"How was I supposed to know?" he asked. "The door wasn't locked."

"She'll make sure to lock it from now on, right?" said Annabelle as she stopped to look back Nova and found the woman quickly agreeing with her.

The doorway led into a long hallway with several windows on both sides and another door at the end of it. Upon exiting through it, Nova found herself in the same workshop C.C. had found himself in earlier.

"Well I guess we'll be working together gorgeous," said C.C.

"Ugh," Annabelle purposely said louder than necessary. "If he's this close I'll take my chances with the other idiot."

As Annabelle walked off, she passed the final member of this team on his way through the hall way, Joaquin Santos.

Joaquin stood at an even 6 feet with a lean and muscular physique. His light tan skin tone meshed nicely with his short, thick messy raven black hair that seemed to be untamed as a couple bangs seemed to be fighting against his attempts to uncover his eyes. His oval shaped eyes were a chocolate brown. On the right side of his face was a rigid x-like scar that had one end starting near his ear and working diagonally to the left and stopping near the bottom right of his mouth and another starting at the bottom right side of his eye and running diagonally to the right and intercepting the right diagonal scar. He had a tattoo of a roman round gladiator shield with a face of a lion on it on the back of the neck and a roman numeral 1 underneath the shield.

He wore a light blue lacrima stone earing and a long white leather jacket that reached to his shins with a thin coating of silver titanium metal stitch into the back of his jacket protecting his back and the word 'Architect' stitched to the back. He wore a silver well fitted chest armor with the design of two swords. Under the chest armor he had on a black v neck shirt, a silver necklace with a light blue canine tooth, dark blue skinny jeans which are held up by a simple black belt with a dark red scale on it as a belt buckle, and black fingerless gloves on each hand with small silver spikes on each knuckle and black leather dress shoes.

"I was gonna say my room is nice," began Joaquin, "But looking at yours, I'm a bit jealous," he added with a laugh.

Joaquin's room was simplistic in design as anything else was likely to send him to a panic, given the peculiar time that he was from.

Beside him was a Raiju named Tesla. It was a medium sized white fox-like dog with smooth white fur, a bushy tail and neon blue eyes. Ever so slightly, electric jumped between the hairs on its body.

The four mages spoke for a bit and before any of them knew it, Tidus had walked into the room.

"Oh, you're all in here. Lovely," he said. "I'll go get the other two."

Within a few moments, the mechanic room had the 6 mages, Tesla and Tidus within it. And after shooting down a few advances from C.C., the group lightened up and began talking about where they were from.

It quickly amazed them when they realized that everything had been true. In all of them a bit of a skeptic had remained and to hear them all talk about how they were from a different times and places. All the while Tidus smiled happily and Annabelle could be heard arguing across the castle with Colt.

* * *

 **February 3, XX20, 1:00 P.M, Out of Time**

Yochanon had been given the last group of mages and as he showed them the balcony and they took off towards their own rooms, he sighed in relief at being nearly done for the day. His father had a lot of plans, but with the missions being so sensitive, he doubted that these members would get to see serious action soon.

A man named Sunny Moss was currently in a sort of shock and glee. His room contained a terrarium, an Aquarium and a hammock hung between the two. It was neat and cluttered all at once and while Sunny was over 30 years old, he currently resembled a small child as he hopped around the room in excitement.

Sunny was a few inches short of 6 feet and was very skinny His brown mustache was quite droopy hung past his chin. His long brown hair was thick, had two white and red feathers in it and it reached past his shoulders. He was tan and bony and had it not been for the excitement he was presently in, he'd have an almost sleeping look to him constantly.

He wore loose fitting bell bottom pants, neon blue boots, an open, ripped denim vest and a tye-dye scarf. Around his neck hung a peace medallion and in his pockets he carried a horseshoe, a rabbits foot, and a metal four leaf clover. He had a pair dark green tinted circular glasses and several fingers held a mood ring.

He bounded through the common room in excitement nearly barreling over Yochanon who seemed to have a permanent scowl etched into his face.

He quickly ran past Yochanon and the balcony which housed 3-D compendium of animals from around the world and some from beyond. Sunny ran straight into his team mate Akameou's room.

They had only been in the company of one another for a minute or two, but it instantly evident that Akameou liked peculiar animals.

Sunny entered the outrageously spacious room which contained many of the basic essentials; however this room's ceiling opened out onto a landing on the third floor of the castle.

Akameou was currently on this landing with his pet gargoyle, which was a large grey bat who wore a black collar and had bulky arms.

Akameou himself was had an average-sized build. He had pale skin, sea-green hair which hung partially in a bang while the rest was spiky and red eyes. His canines protruded slightly and he had a scar on his left cheek similar to a knife wound. Akameou wore a white tank top, and a light blue jacket with yellow trim that flowed off of his shoulders. He wore a waistcoat with matching cargo pants, brown boots, a brown belt, and a set of keys hanging off of his left side. Akameou wore a silver necklace and a long headband which had been tied around his forehead.

"Akameou!" shouted Sunny. "You've gotta see my room. It's got a terrarium and an aquarium!"

"That sounds really interesting, but I think you're gonna wanna see this view first," said Akameou.

He pointed to a ladder and Sunny quickly climbed up and was awestruck by his view. They were looking out at the make shift sky, but as it had been designed specifically for the metropolis, the sky seemed to bend around the sphere at points making seem as if the sun was fading into the folds of the metropolis sky.

"I hate when it does that," said Yochanon, scaring both men as neither had heard him climb beside them. "The sky is fake, but it's one of many things which help make things feel normal."

"What's it like behind that," said another voice.

The owner of this voice was Rex Wilson and as he was much louder as he made his way up the ladder, everyone had already turned to him before he asked his question.

Rex Wilson stood a few inches over 6 feet and had short, spiky blue hair that spiked towards the left, as well as grey eyes. He had a lean body which was riddled with scars and wore plain gold earrings. Rex wore a plain grey sleeveless shirt under a thicker dark blue shirt with the light blue guild mark of his former guild. His blood red overcoat fell to his knees with a golden helix running up both sleeves. There were multiple pockets to store small or loose objects and the sleeves were somewhat baggy, allowing him to remove it with ease if need be. Around his waist there was a plain black belt with a gold buckle that held up somewhat baggy khaki pants. The bottoms of those pants were tucked in worn out grey shoes.

As Rex's room had only come with a standard set up of a bed, a closet, a bathroom and a large window he was sort of amazed by the third floor landing of his roommate. Not jealous since his room was as simple as he always loved it, but amazed.

"Yeah?" began Sunny. "What is out there?"

Yochanon looked at the mages and shrugged before explaining about how the torrents of time exist beyond those walls.

Not long into his explanation, there came a knock at the door. Annabelle had come to tell them that Master Hal was to have a dinner served later that night.

* * *

 **February 3, XX20, 7:00 P.M, Out of Time**

Master Hal sat in a gigantic dining area. He was currently at a large table with 4 seats beside. Tidus, Yochanon, Annabelle and Jael quickly took their seats and Master Hal called for everyone else to take a seat where ever they felt.

The hall they were in had several long table which housed not only the new members of Red Mirror, but several of the mages who had greet Arya, Alva and Hassnet earlier.

Soon the hall was brimming with laughter and jokes and even the new members had warmed up began to feel welcomed.

Zanza could be heard laughing over everyone as the large man guzzled wine.

C.C. and Colt had just met one another and were in the process of regaling failed loves and scoping out new ones.

Sunny and Akameou were discussing different animals they had met in their lives, while Rex was introducing himself to Joaquin who sat beside Celia and Nova.

Lucca and Xenvyla had mixed into another table quickly as they were late trying to find seats. They were talking to current members of the organization.

Harlow and her family were currently enjoying their dinner and beside them sat the Creed siblings who had taken a liking to Harlow as they were now neighbors.

Origami sat quietly and meditated over her meal in silence as Aci loudly discussed her adventures with other mages around her, eventually pulling Madison into the conversation and allowing the young woman to share her own stories.

Ikariel and Quetzal had met soon after upon an attempt to thank Master Hal for the rooms they'd received. There they noticed they had many similar interests and as such they'd been locked in a fierce conversation about things that no one could understand.

Hassnet, Alva and Arya had gotten lost in their walk around town and arrived the latest, so they sat with Raven who had been busy taking in the city herself. Arya had quickly taken a liking to Raven and the older woman seemed to share the feeling as they both quickly shared a connection to Earthland.

Mikael Kuehn had been discussing something with Tidus at the main table when Master Hal suddenly called out to everyone.

"Good evening!" his voice boomed. "I'm sure it's been a long day and even after hearing the explanation earlier and taking in the metropolis many of you are still confused as to what you're actual part in this endeavor will be."

He looked around as he spoke and their unmoving faces told him he was right.

"Beyond this point," he said motioning the meal they were eating. "Is a trial of skill and strength."

Many people perked up at the idea of a challenge.

"None of you are ready," Master Hal quickly added. "You'd all die out there."

The expressionless faces of Tidus and the Grim Riders told everyone they were serious.

"But as ominous as that sounds. I'm certain you'll be ready with just a bit of practice," Master Hal said as sly grin erupted across his face.

"You noticed I'm a man who has a penitent for organization. Hence the unit called the Grim Riders. Some of you may have even heard they were the equivalent of this or that or even S-class mages from Earthland. None of it is true."

Master Hal stepped forward and continued now, "The fact of the matter is they're so beyond something like that, it's quite uneasing. However, I've begun to like the idea. The notion that we would have some equivalent to some of the mightiest mages across time. And so I've decided to hold a test of sorts. A test to decide who is fit to bear the title of Red Mirror's Archangels!"

"Always a flare for the dramatics, this one," whispered Tidus to Annabelle causing her to snort in laughter. "We spoke earlier and he said he'd come up with a name for his S-class mages."

"There are only three Grim Riders," continued Master Hal. "But there are many of you and many teams. Some of you will have to rise to the occasion. So I'll be sending you out on easier missions and the teams that come back within a set period of time with their goal complete, will have one of their members rise to this new rank!"

It was a lot to take in, but eventually random members of the organization began clapping until everyone was clapping.

Master Hal smiled brightly and turned to the four beside him and whispered, "It went well, right?"

Forcing them to smile as they nodded in agreement to avoid killing his moment.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Special thanks to all of my readers.**

C.C. Creed - Ogrespi

Lucca de Venice – Reven228

Xenvyla Hoki - LucCherice

Celia Orne - Imageination

Joaquin Santos – ThePrinceOfLight

Nova Ramsey - Vulkodlak

Sunny/Stormy Moss - AkumaXHwaorang

Akameou – Nitrothekidd88

Rex Wilson – Alpha Dragonis

Thanks for the wonderful OCs and I hope I portrayed them correctly. If not, please feel free to tell me.

 **How's it going?**

How's everybody doing? Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter.

This concludes the introductions and gets us into our first arc. The Archangel Rank arc. It'll be a sort of makeshift S-class exam to see who is fit to lead teams when the Grim Riders aren't there.

Apologies for the length and possible mistakes. I'm not feeling all that well right now.

 **Origm2012 News**

Thanks for reading.


	5. The Test of an Archangel - 1

**Author's Note:**

How's everybody doing? I'm glad that I finally got to update this. Someone pointed out to me, that since I created schedule, I've missed so many days on it. You've got a point. Haha, but I've also updated more than any other time since I started writing so… pros and cons. As most of you know, I'm simply a fairly unlucky person. Haha. I'll leave it at that.

Oh and I'm going to point it out again here so nobody can say I didn't say it and that the locations are too confusing to follow. The heading of each section is important. These characters are going to be going to entirely different worlds which will all have different locations in them, such as continents, countries, cities, towns, villages, bedrooms. I'll try and keep it clear, but the heading is really the best I can do there.

Enjoy.

* * *

 **February 4, XX20, 9:00 A.M, Out of Time**

"Your proctors will be these 4," boomed Master Hal as he gestured to the Grim Riders and Tidus. They were in a large circular room in which several smaller mirrors surrounded them. "And your exam, will consist of a single task. Each team will be given a number and a mission. The teams that complete their exams will make a member on their team eligible for promotion. Then your proctors will relay every detail to me and I'll decide on who is worthy of the title Archangel."

"Please step forward with your teams," said Tidus.

There was a quick shuffling as the mages found the members of their respective teams and then Tidus stepped forward and walked from team to team as he handed out a slip of paper to each team. Then he continued giving out instructions, "Each of these slips holds your team number and the mission you are to complete in your respective worlds."

With a snap of his fingers Tidus summoned 7 eight-foot red mirror portals from the walls.

"Before you are 7 portals," said Tidus. "Each leads to another world where, as Master Hal has stated, you will complete your assignment and return. We proctors will keep an eye on all 7 of you, every moment of bravery, cowardice, strength, and weakness. I wish you all the best of luck."

"I'll add this," began Annabelle. "We're currently in Out of Time. The people of the worlds you'll visit may know nothing of this place and it's for the best if you don't tell them however, sometimes it's not that clean cut. These portals send you to a particular world during a particular time. The ones before you are places Red Mirror has already visited and completed our main objectives, but for those that have become aware of our presence in Out of Time we establish a working relationship. In exchange for resources we handle issues they may have."

"The mission slips you've been handed are jobs we've been asked to handle," grumbled Yochanon. "Don't screw this up."

"Who knows," yawned Jael. "If you guys actually do a good job then maybe we'll get to have excitement like this more often. When you're succeed or fail, we'll pick you up."

"Alright!" cheered Colt as he looked over at his team mates. "We're the first team up, I can't wait."

His excitement pulled the attention of a few other teams as they looked over their own assignments anxiously.

Colt, Ikariel and Mikael walked over to the first portal. Colt passed through it first. He could feel the ground stretch into nothing beneath him while the walls of the room were pulled until the infinite number of atoms creating them seemed to be thinning out. He was standing still, but felt as if a force was pushing him forward at the same time. After a moment the room he had stood in had contorted into a seemingly moving tunnel. At the end of the tunnel stood a circular image of a forest region with snow falling heavily.

Colt didn't notice it at first, but he was slowly closing in on the image and before he knew it he had smacked right into it. He burst through it and fell face first into the snow covered ground, a green light shining under him the moment he crashed into it.

"Wooo! It's cold!" he shouted cheerfully.

There was a loud thud behind him, which was quickly followed by another and Colt turned to find the other two members of his team slowly lifting themselves up and wiping snow from their faces.

"That was wild," added Mikael as he ran a hand through his light blue hair to shake off excess snow.

"Any idea what we should first?" asked Colt.

"Well, if this is supposed to be like a normal job, then the first thing we should do is to find the person who requested the job," said Mikael.

"I agree," said Ikariel, the silver eyed mage who was seemingly lost in thought as he took in the snow-like wonderland. "It may be best to take cover from this storm."

Colt and Mikael quickly agreed and as snow continued to fall heavily, the trio took searched a snowy hillside and eventually took cover in a nearby cave.

"What does the mission say exactly?" asked Mikael.

Colt pulled the paper from a jacket pocket and read aloud the mission details. It read, "Team 1, your mission will involve traversing the snow-covered world, Glaceal. The mirror will likely take you to the northern continent of Basilia. If not, get there. Once there you must find a man named Roten Micolvo. His request seems to concern the architectural recovery of a magic tome. He'll supply you with more information."

"Well that's pretty straight forward," said Colt. "Now we just need to find out where we are and how to get to this Basilia place."

"Well, there's not much we can do tonight in this storm," added Mikael. "We should wait until it dies down first."

"What if it doesn't die down?" asked Colt.

"I doubt it can last much longer at this intensity," said Mikael.

The group stayed in the cave for a few hours and they were amazed by the storm's inability to die down. Not only had it remained strong, it seemed to get stronger.

"I stand corrected," said Mikael as his eyes widened from the torrent of snow pounding the entrance to the cave.

"What should we do now?" asked Ikariel.

Before anyone could answer there was a scream that managed to pierce through the storm and reach the trio of mages.

"Quick!" shouted Mikael. "Someone needs help."

Ikariel looked reluctant, but soon rose to head out behind Mikael.

Before they reached the cave entrance they were shocked to see that Colt had seemingly moved ahead of them and now stood blocking their way.

"What's wrong with you?" asked Mikael. "Someone needs help!"

Being as inquisitive as ever, Ikariel was only concerned with how Colt had managed to get from behind them to the cave entrance in less than the blink of an eye.

"How did you do that?" he asked.

"My magic allows me move things between markers I set," said Colt as he pointed to a green seal currently under his right foot. "As for the scream, that can't be a person."

"Are you deaf?" asked Mikael. "That certainly sounded like someone screaming just there."

"I agree," began Colt. "It did, but with the way this storm is raging, there's no way a scream could be heard over it. No person could make a sound that loud."

"But what if someone needs our help?" asked Mikael.

"I'll go check," said Colt. "I laid a marker the instant I landed so I'll go out and look for them and if it's not a person I'll come back."

The other two mages nodded in affirmation and then with a singular pop, he was gone.

"How long do you think he will take?" asked Ikariel.

"I don't kn-"

Pop!

"Run!" shouted Colt as he transported back into the cave.

Both of his hands landed on the two mages and he was quickly dragging them along.

"What's wrong?" asked Ikariel calmly.

The entrance to the cave exploded and rocks and boulders were flung in every direction as a bipedal, white furred creature standing over 15 feet tall burst forth and began chasing them further into the cave.

It roared at them and shook the cave's walls ferociously before its roar bottomed out to sound like an old man yelling.

They kept running until the cave became a dead end.

"Oh shit," said Mikael.

"What do we do now?" asked Ikariel.

Colt's eyes scanned the dead end they'd run to. He had been fairly certain from the shape of the mountain that any cave would either possess an exit on the other side of it or a dead end. He'd been hoping for the former, but as luck would have it the odds weren't in his favor today.

"We're gonna have to fight," he said with a shrug of his shoulders. "Listen. It's too late to formulate a fully thought out plan, but I'm 70% certain I can provide an opening or two using the transfer marks I laid as we ran."

"You laid transfer marks?" asked Ikariel as he scanned the black floor for the absent green marks.

"I can decide which ones are visible," he added in a matter of fact voice.

Mikael had been deciding which Colt to listen to. The pervert he'd met earlier or the one who'd likely saved him from getting killed. He decided to go with the latter.

"If you can provide the opening," began Mikael. "I won't waste it."

The furry creature swung a huge fist at the trio forcing them to spread apart as they dove for safety. He quickly charged after Ikariel who had little time to defend, but before another fist could collide with him, he felt his whole body shift from the spot to a spot beside Colt.

His silver eyes were locked in a state of confusion and surprise, but he quickly surmised that Colt moved him using his magic.

"Thank you," said Ikariel.

"No worries," answered Colt.

"Its weak point is likely its chest," said Ikariel. "If we can hit that, we can deal fatal damage."

"Are you sure?" asked Colt.

"Most bipedal creatures develop an organ system which places importance on the chest region as the source of vital organs," said Ikariel.

"Angelic Shot!" barked Mikael as light built up at his fingertips and he fired it at the creature's chest. The small balls of light crashed into the beast and it roared once more.

Its large hand reached for Mikael who continued to fire light at his target to no avail. The creature's hand grabbed hold of the light mage and began squeezing as it roared again.

"Can you cover me Ikariel?" asked Colt.

"Hawk's Invocation," Ikariel said quietly.

Two hawks came forth and with a quick gesture from Ikariel they darted forwards at the creature's head.

"That'll do," laughed Colt as he ran at the creature.

Colt jumped up at the creature and struck its chest. The beast swatted him away and the hawks began clawing at its eyes forcing it to let out a scream of pain as it released Mikael.

Despite the pain in his body, Mikael regained his composure before he hit the ground and landed safely.

"Make this count!" shouted Colt.

A small marker lit up before Mikael and the place on the creature's chest where Colt hit glowed as well.

In less than a moment, Mikael was inches from the beast's chest. "Swords of Light!" he yelled as light coated his daggers and they pierced its chest.

The beast stumbled backwards and fell over.

The trio of mages stood quietly as they surveyed the wreckage of their fight and then as if in unison, Mikael and Colt began laughing together.

Ikariel stood confused as to what was so funny, but Colt quickly slapped a hand to his back and almost knocked over the silver eyed mage. "We worked well together," he said.

The trio of mages walked to the entrance of the cave and found that the storm had slowly begun to die down. Once it had they took their leave and began their search for people. It didn't take long as they found a small village of people a few miles from the cave.

The people were shocked by the appearance of the mages, but before the trio could ask any more questions. The village leader appeared before them. He was a tall, hairy man who was draped in a long coat to protect against the weather.

"You're Master Hal's mages, right?" he asked.

"Yes," said Colt. "Are you Roten Micolvo?"

"No," said the man. "That is one of the scientists of Basilia. Master Hal told us to direct you to Basilia if you should appear here. This is Rosantia. Basilia is the continent to the North."

"Continent?" asked Mikael.

"Correct," said the man. "Rosantia is the snowy continent which encircles the entire world and to the North and South are two continents at the polar caps."

"It gets colder?" asked Colt as he scanned the abundance of snow.

The village leader's laughter boomed. "It's certainly colder," he began. "But that also means less snow. If you head in this direction, you'll find the one of the many land bridges between Rosantia and Basilia."

The mages thanked the villagers for their help and went on their way.

* * *

 **February 4, XX20, 9:30 A.M, Borcuse**

Madison, Origami, Harlow and Aci were currently trudging through a swamp. Team 4's mission was to locate and subdue an organism that was supposedly drawing the life of the planet into itself and killing the planet. There was a village of people living in the swamp who used the waters of the swamp for spiritual reasons and as a fuel for their magic. When they realized that it was dwindling they reached out to Master Hal for help and so after her entire team arrived Madison had thought it best that they locate this village to obtain more information.

From Out of Time, Tidus watched the team slowly come to an understanding of one another's strengths and weaknesses as they silently allowed Madison to take the lead. The black haired girl easily obliged the other three mages and decided on their present course of action. Tidus found it quite funny how well he knew the mages. He'd decided to leave his ability to see events of the future out of this and guess who'd obtain the position of Archangel based simply on how well he knew them. To the other 3 proctors who he had tried to rope into a betting competition this was simply a bad attempt at hustling them.

"Where do you think the organism is?" asked Harlow

"I'm not sure," began a gleeful Madison. "I'm just glad to be back in the field."

Madison had patiently awaited the arrival of her Vorpal sword since her arrival. She never liked to be far from it and the thought of it being in a whole other universe had almost made her faint, but now that it had been brought to her as promised she was over the moon.

"Do you have any idea if this is actually the right direction?" asked Origami. "I'd hate to waste my time and everyone else's because of another's bad decision."

"I think you need to relax," teased Aci. "We'll surely get there if we keep walking."

"I just don't see how walking in one direction is the answer. There's no way of even knowing if this is East or West as those could be different on this world."

"Our mission is to subdue a monster draining the world's magic source through the water. Our informant is located in a village near a swamp," said Madison. "A course of action in which we, as mages, can detect a drop in magical energy and sift through this swamp is the most prudent."

Origami could be heard grumbling as she walked at the back of the group. In front of her walked a cheerful Harlow with Aci beside her. At the front Madison continued to lead them until there was a steep drop in the magic that filled the air.

The change came so quickly the 4 mages felt as if the air became thinner and they all struggled to breath.

"Where is it?" cried Harlow.

Madison's eyes scanned the surface for the slightest ripple and several dozen meters in front of her she saw a slight breaking of the surface.

"There!" she screamed as she darted forward and drew the Vorpal sword on her back. She swung the wavy blade through the water and a moment later blood spurted out nearly endlessly.

The three other mages had arrived by her side moments later. "Is it over already?" came Aci's deep voice.

Before anyone could give an answer, Aci was quickly dragged under the water and her screamed filled the air before the water drowned it out.

"Aci," yelled both Madison and Origami.

"Deletion!" yelled Origami as a dark magic surrounded her hand and she began swiping at the water.

Her magic erased portions of the water she was in contact with giving small windows into what was happening beneath the water. She did it a few times and one of the swipes managed to land on an area where Aci had been dragged.

With air momentarily surrounding Aci she screamed once more for help.

The scream gave her position to her team mates and in what seemed to be no more than a few seconds they had surrounded her. Harlow had gotten a hold of her arms and pulled her head above water. Something had hold of her legs still which prompted Madison to swing at it cutting it away from Aci. The platinum haired mage stood to her feet with thanks in her eyes as she struggled to catch her breath.

Madison's attack had infuriated something and the water was currently in a violent stir as it roared beneath the water.

Then it burst through the swamp water and roared once more. It had no arms, but a seemingly endless supply of tentacle-like appendages. Its mouth was as wide as a person, but had 3 rows of sharp teeth which lined it. Its skin was yellow and slimy and it seemed to have extremely tiny legs as it slowly walked towards them.

"Ew," said all 4 mages in unison.

"So this is the thing that's draining this world of magic?" asked Madison.

"It would seem so," said Origami. "We're to subdue something like this?"

"Hey, what does that even mean?" asked Harlow.

"We kill it," said Aci as a pair of tentacles shot out at them. "Sense Sharper: Touch!" she barked.

Her other senses seemed to dull, but her sense of touch expanded to a level beyond super human. She flawlessly dodged each tentacle coming to her with slightest of motions while everyone else had long since moved from its attack range.

With it focused on her, they attacked from all other sides.

Madison charged her blade with her magic allowing her to activate a sword style she called the Manxome blade while Origami pulsed her dark magic through her arms. Harlow had requipped into an outfit with white bandage wrapped over her bust, blue suspenders, and a short, bright red skirt with yellow stars on it. She had thin lavender colored gauntlets with a large, silver star on the side and dark green knee high boots with orange laces. Her hair was tied into a high ponytail with a few strands framing her cheeks.

Aci had been locked in a dodging battle with the creature when it decided to double the tentacles it was using to strike. With no means of slight dodging left she caught the first tentacle and using her heightened sense of touch the muscles in her body allowed her to rip it off.

The creature seemed to be in shock and before it could react and regain composure, the other 3 mages leapt into action.

Madison began cutting into its side. Each slash from the Manxome Blade Style leaving unique jagged scars in the creature's side as it cried out. Origami had managed to use her magic on several of the tentacles, but as the creature possessed sufficient magic, the tentacles simply tore as they degraded to nothing.

It was beyond enraged now. The slimy creature turned on Madison and Origami wildly swinging with all it had left. The attack knocked both mages back and they slid through the swamp in different directions.

The creature took a moment to decide between each mage and then turned on the downed Madison. It raised its remaining tentacles up and then brought them down with force.

Before they could reach her, Harlow's intervention saved her. Her magic allowed her to access a wide variety of abilities, but the one that currently found use was the operatic voice she sang with. The frequency of the scream sent the creature into a tantrum as it tried everything to stop the incoming sound.

With it leaving itself wide open, Madison cut into the monster deeply, forcing it to spew out water and a blue matter. It let out one last scream as it fell over on its side and died.

The 4 mages looked at one another with hints of exhaustion and gratefulness.

"We did it!" squealed Harlow.

"Yup," said Aci.

Origami sat in silent happiness and Madison sheathed her sword and smiled brightly at her team. She had been worried about the people she'd work with, but these 3 mages seemed to have a good head on their shoulder to Madison and so she took satisfaction in having completed their first mission.

"Now how do we contact Red Mirror?" asked Origami.

"They said they'd come get us when we failed or succeeded our mission," began Aci. "They're probably on their way."

They waited for several hours and no one came for their extraction.

"What's taking so long?" asked Origami. "We completed the mission."

"Something must not be right," said Madison.

"Maybe they're just really late," said Harlow.

"One of them can freely move through time," added Aci. "Maybe they abandoned us here. Maybe this whole thing was a trap. Maybe we were tricked into our deaths," she teased as each sentence added more dread to the look on Harlow's face.

"Are you the ones Master Hal sent?" said a man's voice.

They turned to face the voice immediately and found a middle aged man dressed in a green shirt with a torn brown jacket. He wore matching pants and light brown slippers.

"Yes," said Madison. "We are. If you know that, then is it possible you have some means of contacting him. We've completed our mission here and would like to head home."

The man's face held a look of confusion. "I'm the one who requested you here," he said. "I realized Master Hal's mages must have shown up once we felt the thinning of the magic ease up. But I'm sorry to say, this doesn't mean you completed your mission."

"What do you mean?" asked Madison.

"This is not the first of these creatures that we've killed," said the man. "By ourselves we killed 3 of these. They're tough and they're definitely connected to the stealing of magic, but they're not the culprits. They're not acting on their own. Something is definitely making them act this way as these Polysepods are normally friendly and even as they take magic they can only take so much. Which must mean that someone or something is actively draining it from them."

"Ahh," said Madeline. "So that means our mission is still on. Well let's go everyone."

Grumbling could be heard from the 3 girls behind Madison as they trudged over to the villager.

* * *

 **February 4, XX20, 11:00 A.M, Helea**

Akameou, Sunny and Rex had successfully managed to find their employer. They were in a castle made of solid white bricks. There were beautiful gardens surrounding the entire castle and rivers running freely through castle. However, that wasn't what had made their present situation complicated. They were team 7, the last team to go through portal and Master Hal had made the reasoning clear. Tidus had made sure to make the other portals end point random, but for this last portal, random would be a very bad idea.

The entire world of Helea had long since been destroyed by super weapons in combat. The end result being that most of the planet's surface was molten lava and acid rain, however, the ancestors of those who now ruled Helea had come together to form what could easily be a collection of the world's brightest minds and greatest people. They'd gone as far in the final moment to take in complete strangers as well. When the cataclysm that was the last war began, they along with several of their minor associate structures around the world began the process of mass, anti-magnetism. They broke free from the ground, miniature regions of land and escaped.

By using the resultant force of the super weapons and the planet's magnetism, along with a solar powered energy supply, they successfully placed New Helea in the air as a collection of floating land masses. Scattered above the clouds were now 7 structures which were the original 7 escape structures. They were tethered to one another by sky bridges which connected the land masses. Some of these masses had grassy terrain surrounding their city, while others had forests. Ironically the main city which the trio of mages stood in now was simply called Savannah.

Akameou, Sunny and Rex were standing before the governor of Savannah. He'd explained to them their mission and after team 7 looked over the slip again and again, they really couldn't believe it.

"There's a phoenix. On one of the islands. And he's gone missing," said Akameou in disbelief.

"Yes," said the governor who was dress in a black suit with emeralds for buttons. His grey hair was slicked back and he had a reserved look to his features. "Is it so hard to believe a Phoenix can exist?"

"No, it's hard to believe you lost it," said Akameou dryly.

"Oh relax," laughed Sunny as he draped an arm around Akameou. "Let's just get on with the search."

"Yeah!" added Rex happily as he fiddled with his sword. "This is gonna be sweet."

The trio headed for the doors and behind them the governor called out to remind them to be gentle.

"Let's review shall we," said Akameou. "We have to locate a phoenix. Capture it. Return it that guy."

Rex grabbed the mission slip and added, "Don't forget the part where it's currently at the stage of its life cycle when it is reborn so we have to make sure that goes off without a hitch."

Sunny took hold of the slip, and slowly added, "Let's not forget the reason we were even called here. Supposedly phoenixes can be very violent when they're undergoing the change. I don't know why people like violence so much."

"They were smart enough to put 7 cities in the sky, but they can't catch a bird," sighed Akameou.

The trio had gotten onto the sky bridge leading from the main city to the first possible location of the phoenix.

The bridge was more so a long tube with glass walls that extended to the first city they chose to head to. As they walked along the bridge they peered out from the glass. After waiting a moment, the clouds beneath them moved and Old Helea could be seen beneath them. It was exactly as had been described to them. A scarred piece of rock with bits of red, assumed to be magma, gushing out here and there.

"Wooooow," said Sunny. "That's why violence isn't the answer.

The city they were heading to, supposedly had a more rock terrain surrounding it. It was said to be the hottest of the 7 cities and as good a guess as any for a legendary bird on the run.

"You think we'll get to fight it?" asked Rex.

"Probably," said Akameou. "Now stay sharp. We're here."

They'd arrived outside the city and immediately walked away from the city entrance and over to the rockier pathways leading away from the city.

"It's definitely been here," said Akameou.

"How do you know?" asked Sunny.

"There's a charred smell to the air," said Akameou as he wiped sweat away from his brow. "And I doubt anyone just wants to stay around here."

A loud screech suddenly pierced the air and a moment later, the trio of mages was watching a majestic fiery red bird flap away from the area. Each flap unleashed bits of fire onto the city before it flew away from New Helea.

"Shit," said Akameou.

He surveyed the damage and weighed it against their chances of catching the bird and decided to deal with the immediate problem.

"We've got to put out these fires!" he shouted.

They ran into the town and split up immediately to deal with the fires.

Sunny approached a burning building and with a quick chant too low for anyone to hear, he turned his body to water and entered the building. People on the outside watched as the fire being spewed from the windows was doused and eventually Sunny himself returned with two small children beside.

Rex took a different approach. As fire required oxygen to burn, he simply made it inaccessible. He grabbed hold of his sword and let magic flow through the jeweled pommel. With ferocious slash after slash, the fires were brought down to nothing.

Akameou's magic made dousing fire impossible, so he put to use his natural physical talents and to his dismay rushed into burning buildings, cars and houses to save people who were trapped.

It took time, but they had successfully managed to put out the fires and save quite a lot of people.

"Geez," laughed Sunny. "I never thought I'd be putting out the fire."

"Ugh," cried Akameou and Rex as they fell over from exhaustion.

* * *

 **February 4, XX20, 12:30 P.M, Glaceal**

Raven stared down at the mission slip in her hand as she listened to Zanza's cackling and Quetzal's snoring behind her.

Their mission was simple and that's what bugged her the most.

From the moment the piece of paper had landed in her hand, she'd had a terrible feeling in her stomach.

She looked up from the mission slip to peer over at a camp several hundred yards from them down the mountain they currently rested upon.

She shook her head in aggravation and read over the mission once more.

"Once Team 1 is in Basilia, stop them from completing their mission at any cost."

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Special thanks to all of my readers.**

 **Special Thanks to the Impostor for Basilia the continent. They made it and an amazing lore for it and I can't wait to write it.**

If anyone else is interested in creating a world or a continent for a world, please feel free to do so. It'd help greatly if you also give me an idea for what type of mission you might want to see there. Oh, and if there's overlap between ideas on continents between two readers, I'll likely combine them into 2 continents on one world.

 **How's it going?**

How's everybody doing? Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter.

If anybody wants to tell me how I'm doing with their OCs, I'd greatly appreciate any and all critiques.

This chapter was really a lot of fun to write and I suspect that I'm going to thoroughly enjoy writing all of these missions as I've never gotten to do that before.

 **Origm2012 News**

Thanks for reading.


	6. The Test of an Archangel - 2

**Author's Note:**

It's Thursday somewhere

How's everybody doing? I just wanted to point out a huge blunder I made that I've since corrected. Last chapter, I wrote Rex using Amaterasu magic. This is incorrect. I'm not sure how I pulled off this huge mistake and I want to truly apologize to his creator. Hopefully they managed to read the edited version and don't hate me… It's really a matter of 1 line that's been edited. In place of Amaterasu, Rex uses his version of sword magic to quell the flames. Once more I apologize for the mistake.

Oh and I don't accept OCs from reviews. Sorry, if you want a reason why, feel free to PM me.

* * *

 **February 4, XX20, 9:05 A.M, Out of Time**

"Is Team 2 ready?" asked Tidus.

His eyes landed on Hassnet, Arya and Alva as he awaited their response. However, the trio of mages was stuck in confusion as they read over their mission.

"Are we really suppose-" began Arya.

"Yes," Tidus said shortly.

"But why?" asked Alva.

"Because that's your mission," chuckled Tidus.

"But what if someone gets h-" began Arya.

"You make sure they don't," added Tidus. His final word on the situation seemed to put a close on any discussion as he stepped aside and awaited their entering of the portal.

Hassnet seemed to be the only one who was genuinely excited for the mission, regardless of its details. He had watched Team 1 go through their mirror and he was bubbling up inside as he waited for his team's turn.

He seemed to have missed the apprehension of his team mates as he gleefully walked up to the portal and stepped through. He was pulled through the portal and as the room contorted, an exit came into view before him. He could see a small clearing and just beyond it a large city.

Hassnet burst through the exit and came to a stop in the clearing he had seen moments ago. Within a few moments Arya and Alva were beside him. Both of them held shock expressions on their face as they took in just what the mirrors were capable of doing.

"T-this is amazing," exclaimed Hassnet.

"Yeah," added Arya and Alva in unison as a sense of wonder washed over their reservations about their mission. It didn't last long though as Arya quickly pulled out the mission slip and scowled at it.

"We really have to rob these places," she said in disbelief.

"Yeah," said Alva. "I couldn't believe it either. I mean, everything seemed peachy for a moment there like we had a higher calling of some sort. But here we are preparing to be criminals."

Hassnet was simply mesmerized by what he'd seen in such a short time. If it was like this then he could truly complete his lifelong goal. But as he mulled over those thoughts, Arya and Alva's conversation became his focus and he couldn't help, but find it funny. So much so that he began to laugh loudly.

Arya and Alva stood confused by Hassnet's sudden outburst. "You okay Hassnet?" asked Arya.

"W-we all have t-things we want to accomplish," began Hassnet. "T-things that we likely couldn't achieve before coming here. Our new comrades are likely an assortment of skilled people, criminals included. Maybe the w-worst kind. But they're all willing to work for their goals, so I will too."

Alva furrowed his brow at the younger mage. He didn't like it, but it made sense. If this was a stepping stone to what he wanted most, he'd just have to grin and bear it.

"Let's go over the mission one more time before we decide what we do next," said Arya.

"Team 2. Your mission will take you to a world called Auspacia. Hopefully you land close to a city called Flogrede. Here in this city are 3 locations which each contain a third of a priceless jewel. The objective is to acquire these jewels by any means necessary. Leave all other valuables. Once you have done so, you will be extracted. Take care, as all of these jewels will most likely be guarded well."

Alva pointed to the town below and said, "I think our best option is to verify whether or not this town is Flogrede."

"I agree," added Hassnet. "I-If it is, we should locate the 3 jewel pieces and retreat to a safe location to f-f-formulate an appropriate plan."

The trio of mages walked through the clearing to the city and quickly realized how the buildings towered over them. Most of the buildings stood over 5 stories high. The city appeared to be a circular composition of mostly buildings and industrial sites as they walked through. However, luck seemed to be in their favor because shortly after walking into the city they passed a jewelry emporium. Once inside, they could see the curator beginning a tour of the 3 story building. There were a few armed guards posted by the entrance, but none of them appeared to be particularly dangerous to the mages.

They smiled at the guards as they hurried to join the group.

"This is too easy," whispered Arya as a small smile took root on her face.

The other two mages shared excitement for an easy start and before they knew it they were heading up the carpeted steps to the second floor.

The tall and horrifically skinny curator turned to his large group and smiled behind is large wiry mustache. Both of his hands ran up and down his suspenders as he described the next piece of priceless jewelry on display.

"These jewels must be something special," said Hassnet. "W-We were specifically t-told to leave everything else behind."

"Definitely," added Arya. "A person could live like royalty for the next century and still have money if they stole everything here."

The tour made it to the final floor and before the curator even mentioned it, they could all immediately tell which jewel they had been sent here to steal. Towards the middle of the room was a 6 inch sapphire rod in a glass case.

"This is our pride and joy," began the curator as excitement filled his voice and playfully spoke in a graver tone. "This jewel is one of 3 pieces to the Osirite Jewel. Legend says that unthinkable power and misery awaits anyone who attempts to put all 3 pieces back together. Our superstitious governor has taken it upon himself to hold 1 piece within his estate, leave 1 here and another in the town bank!"

"Seriously," Arya shouted in a half whisper. This pulled everyone's attention and her eyes went wide with embarrassment. "My bad. I guess I got too excited."

The curator smiled, being happy that he thought his spooky voice was successful.

Arya pulled her team aside. "This guy can't be serious," she began. "He's just giving away the location of valuable artifacts?"

"I agree," said Hassnet. "Something feels amiss. Now that we know w-where all 3 pieces are. W-We should finish the tour, locate the other buildings and set up an operating space of some sort."

"Why?" asked Alva. "We've got one right in front of us. Let's just take it and run."

Alva turned to the glass case, but just before he could make a move for it, he felt a hand tug on his shoulder. He turned to find Arya. Her eyes yelling for him to not make a move.

"What?" he asked in a whisper.

"She doesn't think it's a good idea to act in the open," said Hassnet. "I agree with her and as we are a team, 2 out of 3 would seem enough to decide a course of action."

He yanked his hand free and scowled as the trio rejoined the group. 15 minutes later the tour ended and the trio found themselves out on the street again.

Hassnet and Alva waited on the corner, while Arya spoke to a nearby construction worker for details on the city.

When she came back Hassnet asked, "Have you learned anything?"

"Everything we needed," she smiled.

Both men's eyes went wide. "What do you mean by everything?" continued Alva.

Arya rattled off the locations of the bank, the governor's estate, a public works building where tourists could get a map of the town and even a diner.

"How'd you get all that from a 30 second conversation with a stranger?" asked Alva.

She smiled coyly with her teammates. "Expert negotiating," she teased.

Both mages looked from the emerald haired girl to the construction worker who seemed to be lost in thought and they both sighed. "Is it because he finds you attractive?" asked Hassnet forcing Alva to laugh at his sudden bluntness. Arya's face reddened a bit and she stomped her foot as she repeated, "Expert negotiating."

The trio of mages walked to the outside of the governor's estate after picking up a tourist map. They marked off the jewelry emporium, the estate and the bank they had all passed on the way there.

"I believe that the clearing we landed in is our best option to w-wait for night coverage and complete our mission," said Hassnet.

"But there's a perfectly good hotel here," said Arya. "Why should we stay out there?"

"Well for one," began Alva as a devious smile formed on his face. "We have no money for this world. Two, if we rob this place and use a hotel as our base it'll be pretty obvious that the tourists did it as we run back there. Three, majority rules."

Hassnet had a simplistic grin on his face as he gestured for her to lead the way back out of the city.

"Majority rules my ass," she yelled back at them forcing a laugh from both men.

* * *

 **February 4, X791, 9:30 A.M, Earth-3**

The moment C.C. read the mission slip he was ecstatic. He would be heading to Earth. He was even excited when he saw the year on his slip and found it to be a decade or so ahead of when he had left. However, the place that he and his team had landed in had left him dumbfounded there was no way that this could the future of his home in no more than a few years.

C.C. Creed, Xenvyla Hoki, And Lucca de Venice comprised Team 5. They had been given a mission on Earth, the catch however, was that it was not an Earth that any of them belonged to. Amongst the infinite possibilities of all things that can be, this Earthland was covered in mostly desert. Springs here and there provided sustenance for the people of the planet, but as the planet was slowly drying up, these were becoming less and less powerful and dying as well.

Their mission slip made it clear that the people had to clamor day and night to collect water just to survive. A task that was so daunting most people died of heatstroke. It was made no easier by a bandit who had designated the areas around the springs his own and charged the people for access to it. Their mission was simple; reclaim the land for the people.

"This is not your world," said Lucca as his eyes glanced over the dejected look of mousy pervert. "Tidus made it clear; there are many versions of how this place will grow throughout time. It should be obvious that some places will do the opposite."

C.C. sniffled for a bit, took a deep breath and the moment he exhaled, he seemed to expel all the negativity he felt the moment they'd arrived. "You're not so bad Lucca," he said. "Hey. If it's so hot, there's bound to be women trying to keep cool."

Lucca and Xenvyla rolled their eyes in unison as they watched the shorter man snap back to his normal self quickly.

"We must first figure out where we are, right?" asked Xenvyla, her fluffy tail wiggling as she awaited an answer.

"I agree," said Lucca. The gaunt man began to wobble forward and his teammates finally stopped to take in his condition.

"Are you going to be alright?" asked C.C. "You're certainly not gonna get the Archangel rank if you're keeping us back like this."

"That's fine," said Lucca. "I do not wish for ranks. I'll simply do my part. Do not worry about me."

Xenvyla and C.C. shrugged in defeat, feeling that to continue that particular conversation would only waste time and daylight, something which was precious in a desert.

They walked for some time until they came to the outskirts of a makeshift town. The trio of mages peered over a small cliff as they surveyed the town. There were people lined up with pails in their hands and on their head. Small children also carried buckets to collect water.

From where they watched, they could see the civilians pay a man at the foot of the spring for a few seconds with it. In that time, they have as many people form their family as possible fill up pails. Once their time had passed, the man would yank them away forcefully, often spilling some of their water, before shouting at them and cursing them.

"Is he serious?" asked C.C. through gritted teeth. "You guys stay here. I'm going to teach him a lesson."

"Do not move," ordered Lucca's voice. It came so suddenly that both of his teammates shook in place. "By some twist of fate we've surely arrived at the place we have to be. But our mission is to take back the spring for the people, not get them killed. If you jump down there, who is stopping these thugs from slaughtering everyone or holding them hostage."

"And what are you gonna do?!" C.C. half shouted. "You're little more than a cripple. You couldn't help if you wanted to."

"We all just need to calm down," began Xenvyla. "Let's think through a solu-"

"Ahhhh!" came a scream from by the spring.

The trio looked down to find one of the thugs dragging off a young girl to a nearby hut. The people watched in horror as they knew what was surely coming next.

C.C.'s eyes went wide with rage. Before he could formulae a thought or action he head Lucca's voice.

"Go," was all the raven haired man said.

C.C. burst off from the cliff and crashed down into the village below. His appearance seemed to shock everyone around him before they regained their senses and the thugs yelled, "Outsider!"

"Blueprint: Claws!" barked C.C. and both of his hands rearranged into large, club-like hands whose fingertips were tipped with five, foot-long blades.

He darted through the thugs, letting his hands gently drag along their stomachs, chests, legs, and anything else he could get a hand on.

As Lucca had said, his appearance sent the thugs in a mad scramble to seize civilians as hostages. However, their attempts were quickly swatted away by Xenvyla.

The woman had already materialized her magic in the form of a bow and as she called on her arrows she said, "Archer's Reign." With that she picked off any attempt to attack a civilian while C.C. weaseled past opponent after opponent leaving them with gushing wounds.

Lucca was slowly making his way to the hut the young girl had been dragged into. Her assailant had already exited and been dealt with by C.C., but Lucca still felt it necessary to check on her before he acted.

He peeked in and found the girl held in the embrace of who Lucca could only assume was her mother. The gaunt man smiled before closing the curtain.

"People!" he yelled. "Cover your children's eyes and ears!"

C.C. had slowed down by this point and was curious what the man who seemed to be little more than bone planned.

As Lucca called for the children's safety, the rest of the thugs who had reinforced the surrounding area came forward. The 2 dozen remaining thugs held devilish grins on their faces as they aimed their rifles at the mages.

"Formula 39," he whispered as he held out his hand. He drew the formations in the air with his finger at a frightening speed and when he stopped, a small orb appeared. Then a moment later it 2 dozen shimmering purple streams poured forth from the sphere. They snaked across the ground and the thugs realized they were in true danger. They turned to run, but the streams grabbed hold of each of them. They wrapped around limbs and tore through bones; each stream seeming to start on the outside and then wiggle its way through an opponent until they were dead.

The area remained silent as their bodies dropped to the floor.

"Holy shit," exclaimed C.C.

Lucca began to teeter from exhaustion, but as he fell Xenvyla landed beside him and caught the mage.

The civilians seemed to be stuck in a state of joy, but their attention soon turned to helping their saviors.

Hours later Lucca awoke on a cot in a small hut. Before he could even speak, he heard C.C. scream, "He's up. He's up!" which caused adults and children to pour in until the hut was packed.

"What's going on?" asked Lucca.

"The civilians feel indebted to us for freeing them," said Xenvyla.

"They owe us nothing," began Lucca. "We were just doing our job."

"Speak for yourself!" shouted C.C. who now wore a sombrero with vibrant colors. He was dancing his way out of the hut alongside a small conga line.

"One moment he's serious. The next," began Lucca. "How long was I out?"

"Only a few hours," said one of the civilians. "It's better you rest some more though."

Lucca shook his head in disagreement and attempted to sit up only to feel every bone in his body ache and him to sigh in defeat.

"You're really banged up," said Xenvyla. "Even before you cast the spell. How did this happen?"

"It's a long story," said Lucca. "One I'm sure I'll be able to tell when we're back on the road."

"I don't think you'll be moving too soon," said Xenvyla.

"Ugh," sighed Lucca. "That isn't good."

"Why not?" asked Xenvyla. "We have to free all of the zones from some jerk's control and we've already gotten one done."

"No, that's not it," said Lucca. "Get the mission slip."

Xenvyla retrieved the slip and handed it to Lucca. His eyes narrowed as he finally understood just what they were the conditions for completing their mission.

"Team 5. You're headed to Earth-3. The year is X791. There is a water problem during this time and most of the population lives within zones where springs provide sustenance. Take back control of the land by taking over these zones and freeing the people."

"I see," said Lucca. "We have to take control of the land."

"What's the difference?" asked Xenvyla.

"That means we only need a controlling portion to succeed in our mission," said Lucca. He turned to the lady who was tending to the bruises he had caused to his own body with his magic. "How many zones are there?"

"15," she said quickly.

"So we have to take back 8 then," said Xenvyla.

"Yes," said Lucca. "But then what happens to the rest when we leave and the leader of these thugs takes over again."

* * *

 **February 4, XX20, 9:00 P.M, Rosantia, Glaceal**

Raven, Zanza and Quetzal had been tracking Team 1 since the morning. The mages still didn't seem to know they were being followed and that worked to their benefit because they couldn't engage them just yet. The mission instructions were clear about not engaging until they get to Basilia.

"I don't understand," said Zanza for the millionth time. "Why can't we just fight them now?"

"Because," began Raven. "We're not to touch them until we get to Basilia."

Zanza had made a game out of it and as she gave her reasoning he mouthed along every word in unison. However, this time she caught and the fierce look she shot him made him stop and let Quetzal stand between the two of them.

"It's probably some sort of stealth based analysis," said Quetzal. "If we can follow them for miles without being found, then we'll likely pass."

"And what's your opinion on stopping them by 'any means necessary'?" asked Raven as the trio trudged on.

"Hmmm," began Quetzal. "I don't much care for fighting comrades, but I guess if that's the mission then we can just be sure to not beat them down to hard."

"Ha!" laughed Zanza loudly earning him an elbow to the gut to quiet down. He coughed out and then recomposed himself. "Ha," he whispered this time. "I'd never insult an opponent so much by going easy on them."

"That's even assuming we can go easy on them," said Raven. "You saw the cave after they left. The thing inside didn't seem like any easy opponent and all three of them walked out mostly unscathed."

"That's nothing," said Zanza. "I'd have defeated it by myself."

"Like you defeated Jael?" asked Quetzal.

"You wanna die?" asked Zanza.

"If you two don't stop making so much god damn noise!" yelled Raven who quickly covered her mouth in embarrassment.

The trio paused as her voice carried down the mountain to their targets forcing Raven's team to quickly hide.

Colt paused as the sound hit him and then he shrugged it off. "Ahh, even the wind's voice is as beautiful as ever. It's a wonderful day for to meet a woman!" he could be heard shouting.

Raven, Quetzal, Zanza and Mikael all rolled their eyes in unison from their respective camps.

* * *

 **February 4, X791, 9:45 A.M, Earth-3**

Team 6 looked down at the mission slip they had been given as they took in the desert-like Earth.

"Team 6. You're headed to Earth-3. The year is X791. There is a water problem during this time and most of the population lives within zones where springs provide sustenance. Take back control of the land by taking over these zones and freeing the people."

"Let's go save some people!" cheered Joaquin.

"Yeah!" joined in Celia.

With no other choice, but to share in their enthusiasm, Nova gave her best effort at a cheer as well.

The trio walked through the desert for a bit and discussed what exactly their mission entailed.

"So we've completed the mission when we free a majority of the zones from this bad guy?" asked Nova.

"Yeah," began Joaquin as he looked over the slip again. "It seems like we just need a controlling share and then we'll be extracted from the area."

As fate would have this trio of mages had managed to land quite a distance from the major zones of thug activity so they were just walking as far as they could in one direction hoping to find water.

This plan seemed to fail quite quickly as they soon found themselves dehydrated and struggling to combat the harsh winds which seemed to be picking up.

"We need to find cover," yelled Celia over the winds.

Each mage had a hand covering their face as they pressed through the winds which now carried sand in them.

With no means of protecting themselves in sight Celia sighed and said, "Zone: Wall"

A series of glyphs illuminated a large area around them and then moments later a sphere-like bubble encased the area around them, effectively giving them a room out in the desert.

As the sun had begun to set, they agreed it was the best they could do and they should all get some sleep before continuing in the morning.

Their rest lasted no more than a few hours before someone's scream woke them up. They jumped to their feet immediately and their eyes peered through the storm raging on outside their bubble. They instantly tensed up when they noticed that the bubble was surrounded by countless cloaked individuals.

"It'd be in your interest to not make us force our way in," said a voice.

"I don't think it'd be in anyone's interest if you did that," smiled Joaquin.

Celia shot him a look for antagonizing the man and whispered, "This isn't impenetrable. If they hit it hard enough it'll break."

"I had a servant of mine test out this bubble," called the voice. "It repelled him, but it did seem to become less stable for having done so. So I'm gonna count to 3 before we blow this thing open and then I won't be so hospitable."

"You call this hospitable," teased Joaquin. "I might just have to listen to you if that's the case."

"Fuck it. You asked for this," yelled the man. He grabbed something from his subordinate's hand and seemed to take aim before stepping back out into the storm quite a distance away from them.

Were it not for the storm it would have been silent until a loud roar could be heard. It became increasingly louder and louder and Nova's eyes went wide as she recognized it, "Missile!" she cried as they all dove for safety just in case.

The bubble shook from the pressure and then cracked and shattered into nothing. The storm raged around them once more, but Joaquin heard a slight click and then the roar came out above the storm.

Another missile came straight for them, but it disappeared into nothingness as it closed in on Joaquin.

Then in a flash it was quickly returned from whence it came. The missile zoomed through the air at their assailants and as they had no idea what was happening, their screams never came as they had no time to avoid it or notice it.

"How'd you do that? Asked Nova in genuine awe.

"Pocket Magic," smiled Joaquin.

Celia quickly replaced her bubble and the trio took their rest once more.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Special thanks to all of my readers.**

 **How's it going?**

I really don't want to mess up anybody's OCs and I sincerely apologize for that mishap. I'll try my best to avoid that from here on out.

And we've got all 7 of our Archangel Test missions now. I'm really pleased with how they started out and I can't wait to write more of them. These missions were a lot of fun to write and I had a blast putting these teams together and fleshing out the results of this arc. So I hope you all enjoy them too.

 **Origm2012 News**

Thanks for reading.


	7. The Test of an Archangel - 3

**Author Note:** So I'm back. As many of you know, my luck on the tech side of things has been rather poor the last two years. For the first time in a long time I have a steady means to write and access to all the plans from my old devices. However, there's been such a long gap in updates that I fell into the same hole as the last time. But I don't think it'd be fair to address it in the same way as last time, so I've decided to do recaps of what had been going on so far in The Brightholt Chroincles, The Most Free and Red Mirror. So if you happen to be new to these stories and are confused as to why you're reading something you just read, the reason is to recap all those who've been following since the beginning. We'll start light and try to work our way back. Without further ado…

 **Recap:** Master Hal and Tidus had summoned a large amount of mages to Red Mirror's guild ship which rode through time. The guild offered to help all those who stayed their wildest dreams in exchange for helping the mission to reach Eden. In the end, the mags who chose to follow Red Mirror, were split into dormitories and teams and after getting semi-acquainted, Master Hal announced that he'd be hosting his version of the S-class exams to determine who the Archangels, or team leaders would be when the Grim Riders could not be present. This resulted in all 7 teams being sent into various worlds with a few even having missions specifically designed to put them in conflict with fellow guildmates.

* * *

 **February 5, XX20, 10:00 P.M, Flogrede, Auspacia**

Hassnet, Arya and Alva had mapped out a plan to steal the three pieces they needed to complete their mission. Working as jewel thieves didn't sit right with them, but this wasn't the time to back down.

They were going to follow through on their plan now, no matter what. Currently they were outside the door to the Jewelry Emporium, after they finished here, their next stop was the bank and after that they were heading to the mayor's estate. An extra day of planning had done them well as they used it to find where the bank's vault rested as well as to spy on the mayor long enough to see him open a secret compartment in his office. They even had enough time to be extra suspicious and buy 3 sets of all black clothes to play the part of a thief.

Dismantle," said Alva as he pressed against the door. Within moments the hinges and screws became undone and the door fell to the floor.

There wasn't much time to waste as the sound was quickly drawing the attention of guards. One by one, they rushed to the entrance, while the group lay waiting outside. Just as they closed in Hassnet collected a bit of magic in the palm of his hand and called out, "The Map."

Instantly a blueprint of the emporium rested in his hands. He gave a look to his teammates and they held onto him. Then with a slight pinch on the map, they moved to a new location. He repeated this a few times until they were in the final room.

However, there was a guard who had stayed behind to look after the rod. Completely unaware of their presence still Arya used that time to generate a giant fist behind him and then gently knock him over the head earning her a look from both Alva and Hassnet.

"What? It's not like your magic would have worked better."

"A giant fist… Really?" teased Alva.

Hassnet was already moving to the case. He lifted the case and signaled for Arya to apply her telekinetic force onto the stand holding the rod as they had planned and then with the force.

With the weight of the rod matched, they took the rod and replaced it with a counterweight before putting the case back on to prevent any alarms.

They all exchanged a sigh of relief before putting the rod in a bag and re-executing Hassnet's map technique. Once outside they darted for a nearby corner to catch their breath.

"That's one down," said Alva.

"Two more to go," smiled Arya. "Who knows we might as well become jewel thieves if we're this good at it."

"I a-agree," said Hassnet as he reached into the bag to take a closer look at the rod. Only he didn't feel it in the bag. His eyes filled with a look of shock and confusion.

"I-It's not here!" he yelled out.

"What do you mean?!" screamed Arya as she yanked the bag away and frantically searched it. "Where could you have dropped it?!"

"I d-d-didn't drop it," stammered Hassnet as he quickly tried to rule out the possibility and Alva searched as well.

"Then where could it be?" asked Alva.

"I-I-I don't know."

The trio's night went on in that way for the better part of the night. They couldn't go back to see where it might have fallen because of the large increase in protection. They assumed a broken door, unconscious guard, random counterweight, and a priceless gem somewhere on the floor was more than enough to draw more authorities.

The trio retreated for the night and decided to head back to the scene. However, they were shocked to find the security presence near minimum and a large line out the door for the tour.

"What could they be doing in there?" asked Arya.

"We should get in line," said Hassnet.

His teammates both gave him a glance before getting in line. All night Hassnet denied dropping it, but nothing else seemed to make sense.

As the line progressed the group found themselves in a tour similar to the one they had been in on their arrival, however this time the curator was accompanied by the mayor.

"Ladies and Gentleman. Here it is!" boomed the mayor. "The rod which remains unstealable even today. Last night a master thief broke in and made it out without ever being seen, but what they failed to gather was the enchantment on the rod."

"E-Excuse me," began Hassnet. "What makes them unstealable?"

"Well that's obvious isn't it," said the tall spindly curator. "It's a part of the protection charm on the 3 pieces."

"Protection charm?" said Alva.

"Right. Unless all three pieces leave their holding places at the same time they'll return to their cases."

"Oh come on!" yelled the trio.

* * *

 **February 6, XX20, 4:00 P.M, Rosantia, Glaceal**

It had taken the better part of 2 days before the snow began to thin out and the mages were allowed to feel some semblance of relief. Before them was a bridge of what seemed like ice. It was connecting both bits of land over what had to be the coldest water imaginable.

"We appear to be heading in the right direction," Ikariel said dryly earning nods of agreement from Colt and Mikael.

"I just wish we'd been told it was gonna be so cold," Colt managed through shivers.

The group had been surviving mostly off fish that they'd picked out of a nearby stream. It had been the one indication that they were indeed going in the right direction since a land bridge had to be near water. With the bridge in front of them they were excited to see this place Basilia and get to work with their mission.

It didn't take long to find the first signs of Basilia. A few hours after crossing the land bridge they could see large domes in the distance.

The team of mages stood mostly in shock. All of what Red Mirror was, was constantly being sunk into them with each experience. They were definitely on a different world than their own.

With the snow easing up and visibility increasing they could see several figures barreling towards them at great speed.

"Should we run?!" yelled Mikael.

"No," said Colt. "Whatever it is, is moving too fast for all of us to outrun. Get ready."

He set to work quickly laying transfer marks all around, but it was all uncalled for.

The figures came to a sliding halt on what appeared to be giant frost-white bears. From atop the giant bears, 3 figures well over 7 feet hopped down to greet Colt, Mikael and Ikariel.

Wrapped in leather armor, the tall beings before them had pointy ears and lengthy braids of hair. Their eyes seemed to both pierce straight through and hold feelings of warmth all at once.

"Welcome to Basilia," said the first of them. "We've been sent to confirm that you were sent by Master Hal to answer Micolvo's request. Is that correct?"

Her gaze shifted among the mages as she awaited an answer.

"Yes, that is correct," said Colt. "But more importantly are there more of you?"

"I don't understand, if you mean to ask if there are more Basilians, than of course."

"Urrgh! Snow be damned, I'm in heaven!" he shouted as he cozied up to the Basilian.

Entirely different type of person or not, the Basilians were known for their beauty almost as much as their minds.

"Oh my? I? I think it might be for the best if we head to the borgs now" struggled the Basilian.

"Of course," chuckled Mikael as he tried to pull Colt off. "Lead the way."

The trio was now following closely behind the group of Basilians, but Colt had been stuck in a daydream until his eyes met his teammates. "It's been days since I saw a woman. Leave me be."

Within no time really the group reached the outside of the first dome or as the Basilians had called it the borg.

"Once inside, you'll be directed to Micolvo," said the Basilian.

"Can't I stay with you?" pleaded Colt forcing the Basilian to blush and turn to the other mages for help.

"We'll take care of him," said Mikael.

"Yes, please show us inside," added Ikariel.

The wall slid open to reveal a doorway to a brilliantly technological city. The entire city seemed to be firing on all cylinders as the tall Basilians were busily going from one place to another. An assortment of heavily bronzed towers, spires and buildings could be seen everywhere and near the entrance was a circular building which had railways going off in every direction connecting this borg to others.

The group was too in awe to even hear the Basilians calling for them to follow. But outside the Borg, Raven had her group moving in absolute stealth. They'd managed to avoid detection, but the situation was looking dire when the Basilians came out to greet the first team. When that group headed for the Borgs, they headed for what appeared to be a railway between two of the domes.

Quetzal had noticed it in the distance and despite having to keep Zanza from mindlessly charging in ever since they set foot in Basilia, they were now scaling the side of the borg in secret, making their way to the railway in hopes of finding their way in.

"Why couldn't we just kill them? That's all I'm asking?" Zanza repeated for the hundredth time.

"Again. We're not killing them," said Raven between deep breaths. "We're here to stop them from completing their mission."

"And if we kill them, they can't complete it," he argued.

"It's not bad logic Raven," added Quetzal.

"We're not killing anyone," she shot out. "It's bad enough we'll likely have to fight them, but at this rate we might have to end up fighting the taller individuals as well."

"Why is that?" asked Quetzal.

"I don't believe they'll be too pleased with us attacking the people who are trying to help them," she said. "And to top it off, but it didn't feel like they were normal people. The magic around them was strange."

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Special Thanks to all who have read and supported these stories.**

I hope you all enjoyed this update. I'll be trying to actively update it as well.

Be sure to tell me if I'm portraying your OC incorrectly.

OC submissions for this story are closed, but I'll let everyone know when they open.

Thanks again for reading.


	8. Notice

I always intended to continue writing both the Brightholt Chronicles and Red Mirror. So many different things got in the way of that. These are not excuses, it's just what happened. And so it's with a heavy heart, that I say I am discontinuing both of these stories. I am very sorry. I don't know how many people are still looking forward to these stories updating, but if anyone has any questions about this or their OCs, feel free to message me. As I have another Fairy Tail Story active, I have no qualms about re-purposing OCs and the entire cast of Red Mirror does have a sort of cameo arc planned. Again I am sorry for letting you all down, but it just doesn't possible to continue these stories given what's happened. I'll leave these notices up for a few days and then take down the stories. Thank you for following and reading and I hope to post regular updates for the other stories.


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